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Spark plug torque spec

7K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  jrgoffin 
#1 ·
Is the torque spec on a 9 thread head still 13ft lbs for plugs?

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#2 ·
If you put the plugs in and run them down by hand until their tapered bottoms seat against the corresponding tapered face in the head and then give them ever so slight an additional twist to lock them down you should be good to go. Ever so slight an additional twist is less than half a flat of the plug's tightening hex. It takes very little encouragement to properly seat a tapered bottom plug.


Ed
 
#7 ·
That's pretty much the way I have been doing it for 15yrs. Lost 1 hole once on 4 thread heads. I am about to change plugs for the first time on a brand new ser of heads. Just thought about torque them. But I totally understand using the "feel" method. Guess I was doing it right all along. Appreciate the input. And yes ed, my name is nick. We have talked on the phone in the past. I know I can always count on you to keep this forum somewhat alive. Seems like they are dying off at a very fast rate. And unfortunately I dont do or want to do facebook. Just not my cup of tea

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#8 ·
I understand the Facebook aversion Nick, I have a similar one. I was going through a bit of brain fade as I was trying to remember a name and I took a guess based on your screen name. The memory fragments are there, just not complete.

Your use of the "feel" method for tightening the plugs is probably one of the best ways to tighten them up. The taper seat design Ford chose for the engine requires very little encouragement to provide an excellent seal.


Ed


p.s. I won't forget your name again — promise.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Good call staying away from the Facebook groups - never have seen more broken cars owned by more clueless people!

If you are anal about the factory torque number, a beam torque wrench is great for the low values since they are easy to get close, especially when in in/lbs. Have one that is close to 30 years old that still does the trick, and gave me no concerns when putting the plugs in to some new 9-thread heads on the Aluminator I built a few years back (wow, it's been that long already!). The factory spec from Romeo is 16-20 Nm (11-15 ft/lbs) whereas the safe service manual spec is 11 ft/lbs.



Organism Font Motor vehicle Slope Parallel


Nice Craftsman beam wrench in ft/lbs, in/lbs, and Nm:


And if you need a service manual, it can be downloaded here (PDF, or the real Ford program):
http://www.terminator-cobra.com/svt_documents.htm
 
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