Did I fail to see your feeler gauges? If so, if so I'll try to pay more attention. It looks very nice indeed, a credit to you! Tom.
@RTD Tom, I do not intend to set the valve clearances in the side of the road. The risk of loosing a half ring is too great…
@Guillaume69 Very sound decision making regarding setting your valve clearances at the roadside and associated risks I thought the feeler gauges might help if you needed to check your plug gaps during interim roadside adjustments? Although, I'm sure you have thought of this, and in any event I hope you enjoy much trouble free riding without the need for roadside intervention of any kind. Tom.
I am not an expert in gapping my plugs but I thought it was something that should be done/controled upon setting new plugs, once and for all. Can a plug gap change in time once in use on a motor? Honest question.
Yes you can if it's a single-electrode plugs like this: https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Spark-Plug-Gap-Tip.html I can't find a link to a neat little tool I used to own, but this person is using one in this: But a little tap on the electrode by the roadside to close up the gap is in my muscle memory from the 70s!
This extract from a "Champion" article may provide a simple reason for checking the spark plug gap during maintenance or fault finding after use, possibly in a variety of internal and external conditions: "The gap between the spark plug’s center and side electrodes needs to be calibrated perfectly to ensure optimal engine performance. Having the right gap ensures that the arcing occurs at the proper voltage to ignite the fuel and generate the combustion that makes the engine run. If the gap isn’t set correctly, extra stress could be placed on the spark plug tip which could cause it to erode and wear out prematurely." The links below, in addition to the above and any additional posts, may be of interest: https://www.ngk.com/should-i-gap-my-plugs-2 https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/set-gap-when-installing-new-plugs https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Spark-Plug-Gap-Tip.html https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/gapping-and-indexing Hope it helps. Tom.
Most definitely. At a long overdue service on my daughter's Toyota Aygo the plug gap had doubled from 1mm to 2mm. Not sure how it was still running.
