Hey everyone,

I have been busy haven't had a lot of time to tune on the ford but have done some and have some updates.  I dodged a bullet.  I am experimenting with some 18mm to 14mm adapters and was running a champion (not sure exactly on the part # but it was a 10 heat range plug) spark plug.  I was having some preignition problems and some weird problems when I would run under boost or 0 vacuum for a while it would start to ignite the fuel as the intake valve was opening so I would back out of the throttle to let it go away.  While I was trying to tune this problem out it preignited on me and them I had a dead cylinder.  I removed my spark plugs and found #3 spark plug was wet.  I decided to check the compression and there was none.  Removed the valve cover and this is what I found.

Them I did a cylinder leakage test and exhaust valve wasn't sealing.  I removed the head and exhaust valve must have been held opern during the preignition and hit the piston, fortunately the cylinder and piston are fine.  John hooked me up with some new parts and have it back together now with some BR7EF NGK spark plugs.  I have it tuned to 435 hp at the wheels and 515 lb/ft of torque on 12lbs of boost @5200 rpm, should make power up to 6000 rpm but I ran out of time today on the dyno.  My new fuel system is much more efficient now.  My injector duty cycle is only at 45%.  Plenty of room for more boost.  These new spark plugs seem to be working well.  The champion plugs had about a 1/4 in of plug that stuck in to the cylinder with no threads.  There was no place to transfer heat to so I am assuming that it would turn into a glow plug once it got hot enough and would ignite the fuel.  Any comments would be great.  More boost to come!!!!

... Bent push rods seem to be common problem with turbocharged Ys .: We have plenty of those too! But so far, we have had no problems with pre ignition. Luckily, last weekend went without problems with engine... 6.04 at 1/8 mile.

 Seppo from Järvenpää, Finland
www.hollowheads.net (just click the hole in the head to proceed)

Try an AR-32 Autolite plug They are very cold do not have a projected tip and come side gapped

6.04 thats really impresive i have friends that have run that in the 1/8 and have gone on to the 1/4 to run 9.63!!!! thats one monster build you have!

Is that AR-32 autolite a 18mm or 14mm thread.  I will run these BR7EF on the dyno and see how they do.

It is an 18mm.. Summit carrys them... It is a very cold plug

Twisted Fate, you have to remember that current Y-block WR is 7.966 at 1/4, so we are not even close to that . Yet....

 Seppo from Järvenpää, Finland
www.hollowheads.net (just click the hole in the head to proceed)

After two years of work and trial and error we are getting the results we were looking for.  I turned up the boost on to 12 psi and you can see what happens.  This turbo is much happier at higher boost.  I am going to go with one step colder plug an NGK 8 heat range.  Still had some problems with #7 cylinder under boost I did bend that exhaust push rod after some time on the dyno but was much better than before.  I think that the cylinder is getting a little hotter than the rest and valve is hanging up, i'll run a little colder plug and see what happens.  I finally have a picture of my runs at 6psi and 12psi.  The hp and torque are impressive I am very happy with the results and I feel confident about 20 psi.  The engine responded incredibly well to 12 psi. 

The green is 6 psi and the red and 12 psi.  I am very happy with my Y now.  It has been a lot of work and MONEY but I can live with results like that.  Looking forward to colder plugs and 20 psi!!!

(someone told me that engine won't handle 20psi but we will see what happens)

Do you have a valve spring tester? May have an odd spring. After engine is hot, pull the covers and run a check. I have seen some springs change from temp and others not effected.

You hollow heads said that bent push rods are common on boosted Y-Blocks.  Have you found a cause for it?  I went to a one step colder spark plug and it didn't act up until we got into higher boost, John thinks that maybe a colder spark plug may work.  It is #7 exhaust valve that is giving me trouble.  Any tips or something that you guys have changed to help situation?