Colder Plugs?
 

Is there any benefit to running colder plugs with just having the basic mods: exhaust, cold air, gears, tb/plenum, and SCT xcal2 tune? Should I switch from the motorcraft platinum to a copper plug?

Yes. IMO. The general rule is that for max performance, you should always run the coldest possible plugs w/o having any fouling.

Ford chooses the plugs that they use for lots of different reasons. Besides the obvious, they are also chosen for emissions and for reliable cold starts.

As you drop heat range, the car will begin to have cold start problems. And then as you get colder and colder, the plugs will foul and not burn-off properly.

If you live in a tough emissions area, I would leave them stock. If you don't, I see no harm in going one or even two step colder, but one is probably best.

I run one-step colder and I get some hesitiation and stammering on cold start, but very little. I used to have much more pronounced problems, but turned out to be a coil pack issue.

You also may want to run colder plugs in the summer and even go back to stock in the winter. If this were the case, two step colder in the summer would be no problem at all.

In regards to the cold starting problems, would something like the MSD ignitions and coil packs help to counteract such problems? More spark, easier starting. What plugs would you use with the msd system?

Scott

Since you have a '96 which only has two coil packs, I would say that a good after-market ignition is always welcomed. However, with the 99's came 8 coil packs which I believe were a great improvement.

If you have cold start issues with colder plugs, an after-market ignition system may help or may not. I have no personal experience with this.

If i were you, I would just try it.

Thanks for the info. The MSD ignition components are one of the many things that I have on my wish list, so I will eventually get around to it, but not a big issue for now. I was just curious mainly about the plugs. NGK and Autolite are the two that I hear most about. Either one better than the other? Or maybe another brand?

Go with NGK. I had the autolites in my car for a long time, but switching to the NGK's made a great difference. The autolite 103's will give your car a slightly rougher idle, and mine always ended up getting burnt at the tips. I had them set at the right gap, but I forgot what it the gap was. The NGK's have stock like idle, are a little colder, and it feels like a little more power was made by switching to them.

what are coil packs......lol....and i am being serious..

You find them on newer models without a distributor. It is where the spark plug wires connect, opposite the plugs. In other words, the sequence goes plug, boot, wire, connector, coil. I am not exactly sure of the setup on the post '98 models, but like mine, being a 96, has 2 coil packs, with four plug wires running to each.

Scott

on your car its different than the 96 there are 8 coils, the ignition is coil on plug for 99-04. each spark plug is covered by a boot with a spring inside it that is covered by the coil. the coil has a connector with 2 wires coming out of each coil if its stock the coils are black and say motorcraft in green they run right near the injectors.

I run autolite 103's. They are one step colder and I gap at 0.40. Stock gap is .55. I gap tighter because of running nitrous, but I may increase my gap even further the next time around because I do not spray much at all.

I have no personal experience with NGK's on my Mustang.

I do not recomend you go to 2 step colder it is not necesary with what you are running unless you plan on spraying 150 shot of nitrous in the future? with 2 step colder plugs your car will definetly be sluggish N/A. 1 step colder should be just fine NGK TR6s are great.