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Re: Spark plug Modification
A few things:
1. Your friend is wrong about the 'intense heat of the spark' destroying the piston. The flame front and temperatures generated by burining fuel are much greater than the spark energy. If the piston can survive being exposed to the burning fuel, the spark is like nothing by comparison. I have received plenty of shocks from spark plugs over the years. The spark does not feel hot at all. (painful, yes, hot no)
2. Filing the sharp edges off the electrode actually harms the ability for the spark to jump. Do not do this.
The spark is propegated or helped to jump by the sharp edges on the electrode. There are plugs out there that have tried to exploit this principle, like the NGK U-Groove, the Splitfire plug, (and another, maybe NGK, maybe Delco) which uses a fluted ground electrode with lots of sharp edges.
Rounding off the edges mimics the wear and decreased peformance than you get from a worn out plug. Have you ever seen a plug with 50,000 miles on it? The sharp edges on the electrodes are eroded away, which is one reason why worn plugs don't work as well.
Racers have been 'sidegapping' plugs for years with good results. This is when you just move the J-electrode to the side a bit, but NOT shorten it. This exposes more of the ground electrode to the fuel-air mixture for better burning, and exposes two sharp edges of the two electrodes directly facing each other for easier spark propegation.
PLugs are not designed this way because they wear faster, and lose efficiency faster, as the sharp edges become eroded. However, as far as I can see, if the side gapped plug just lasts 10,000 miles before losing efficiency, its still worth the power gains you would get.
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