I bought some NGK BKR6E-11 plugs last week but have not fitted them as yet due to this horrible virus I have!  I have been told that these need to be gapped to 8mm on a Octy MK1 VRS, thought I would double check as may try and fit them today f I don't feel to bad later.

Info here: spark plug gap

http://myfastgti.com/volkswagen/threads/14884-Best-Spark-Plug-Explaination-for-1.8t-Incl.-Heat-Range-Info

 

This is a good read on plugs 

Great replies, Thank you

 

2 things here......  One of the links said about tightening them to 25-30nm, I don't have a torque measure thing, just have a basic socket set......Is it really that important to get the torque correct?

 

And the other link is where the OP puts about this gap to 0.032.......The feeler gauge I have has as follows......0.25, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90.......So which one of these should I measure up to, please excuse me if I should a bit thick here, I am terrible at maths and have never gapped a plug in my 22 years of driving!

They should be torqued right really as they can cause the coils to pop if not done right, plus iirc you can over tighten them and strip the threads as the head is alloy, does your feeler gauge have a 0.07 blade, as you add that to the 0.25 and that gives you your 0.32 gap, thats 0.07 not .070 don't forget.

 

 

Easy peasy... 

Thanks David, great help

 

Well this virus has got the better of me so yet another day in bed :(  But, I checked my feeler gauges and the ones I think I need after reading your reply are '0.25' and '0.70'.....Is this correct mate?

Its quite easy to over torque them and crack the aluminium casting then your f**ked. for the sake of buying a cheap torque wrench. 25-30nm is hardly anything and will just feel hand tight depending on the length of the lever arm. I think from memory a wheel nut should be about 90Nm so you can see the difference. Don't try and guess it though as the scale is not linear. So the force required to do 90Nm 'feels' much more than 3 times 30Nm if that makes sense. If its worth doing its worth doing properly. Modern spark plugs don't require you to adjust the gap they are designed to be throw away items not adjusted & reused like the good old days. Just bang them in they will be fine unless you dropped them a visual inspection of the gap should be ok. Its worth having a look at the colour of the old spark plugs you take out it can tell you a lot about how your cars running health etc.

I will buy a torque ratchet then, thanks mate  Just looked on Ebay and they are around £20 so no bank breaker.  Since I put my plugs in the car has not been right at low revs, interesting as she was still on her first set from new when I changed them!  I have just had new Coil Packs as Skoda did that for free for me, saved me nearly £160!  Everything has been done to my car now since having her, all breathers checked, the ones needing replacing have been done, new oil pick up pipe, OE oil, OE oil filter, OE air filter, throttle body cleaned and polished, so I reckon it is these plugs that are causing the low speed hesitance as from reading David's link it says .......

 

With my many years of sparkplug tuning and fiddling, I went to a local Kragen, and purchased COPPER plugs with the same specs mentioned above: BKR6E which is the same equivalent plug, just in a copper form.

I gapped the plugs from it's specs (0.028"?) to 0.032" (do not go over). The minute I fired up the car, the exhaust tone became a LOT deeper. So I took the car around the block, then on the fwy doing some 0-100MPH runs. The car became a LOT smoother. The powerband of the turbo will now make boost past 5000RPM, and the spoolup got a LOT quicker. The "Hesitation" at 5000RPM disappeared, and the idle became a lot smoother. Simply switching the plugs, I would say that my "Ass-Dyno" pretty much felt another 5-10hp difference in power. 

Now many would ask "Why use Copper when they don't last over 5k" Well first of all, before my explanation, simply switching from platinums to standard coppers will lower your EGT temps anywhere from 30-40C Degrees!...read on:

Well, here is my explanation:

Auto makers built their cars to be maintenence-free, and no prudent consumer in their right mind would buy a car with plugs that you have to change every 3000-5000 miles these days (unless it was a hand-me-down used car). Most modern day vehicles will use iridium, while most are using platinums.

0.25 + 0.07 = 0.32

 

Watch that decimel.... 0.25 +0.7 = 0.95....

 

Slightly too wide!!!!!!

0.25 + 0.07 = 0.32

Watch that decimel.... 0.25 +0.7 = 0.95....

Slightly too wide!!!!!!

Thats what I said ... I think lol

yeah you did David, but it was mis quoted by Brickhouse as 0.7

 

As for the torque, 90Nm is hardly anything.

90nm is for the wheel nuts mate

torque should be 22lbs

 

 

I bought some NGK BKR6E-11 plugs last week but have not fitted them as yet due to this horrible virus I have!  I have been told that these need to be gapped to 8mm on a Octy MK1 VRS, thought I would double check as may try and fit them today f I don't feel to bad later.

 

think you mean 0.8mm buddy not 8mm as that gap will never work

 

Great replies, Thank you

 

2 things here......  One of the links said about tightening them to 25-30nm, I don't have a torque measure thing, just have a basic socket set......Is it really that important to get the torque correct?

 

And the other link is where the OP puts about this gap to 0.032.......The feeler gauge I have has as follows......0.25, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90.......So which one of these should I measure up to, please excuse me if I should a bit thick here, I am terrible at maths and have never gapped a plug in my 22 years of driving!

 

It depends on your feeler gauge is either metric or imperial as others have stated be careful.

 

A Metric feeler gauge will be in mm and imperial inches so the site that quoted 0.032 is in inches which translates to 0.8mm in metric measurement. Do not mix the 2 together

 

If you car is mapped then you can drop gap to  0.028 inches imperial  or 0.7mm metric measurement

 

 

A Metric feeler gauge will be in mm and imperial inches so the site that quoted 0.032 is in inches which translates to 0.8mm. Do not mix the 2 together

 

 

 

 

I was thinking that myself when reading the above.

Oh and wheel bolts are 120 Nm.

Oh and wheel bolts are 120 Nm.

 

Yeah that sounds about right i guessed at 90 because i think my torque wrench shows Nm and ftlb together i think 90ftlb is about 120 - 125Nm. Which is probably what i use but i forgot. Iv'e got two actually a large one for the wheels and a little dinky precision one for stuff like spark plugs

When these tyre garages use air guns to do the wheel bolts up with that when it comes to undoing them you need to have 22" arms to even budge one of the bolts then they are going way over 120nm!  So that must be bad in some way?

My tech mate refers too vag wheel nuts as self tightening as you can torque them up correctly and they still won't come undone without a pry bar about 8ft long lol

My tech mate refers too vag wheel nuts as self tightening as you can torque them up correctly and they still won't come undone without a pry bar about 8ft long lol

 

lol. I had to buy a breaker bar to get mine undone 

 

And why do garages torque up wheel locking bolts the same way.....duh

I have a 3/4" drive and the handle on it is about 1m long it has no problems  . Don't kill yourself trying to use a small socket set just extend the lever arm.