Whats wrong with stock Champion plugs (2015)

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johnm said:
Im also one of the guys who started with Champions in the 70s and latter switched to NGKs because of a few Champion failures.

And now mainly stay with NGK because they are what the local shop sells and they work. I also like the P - projected nose in the NGK.

Read what Gordon Jennings has to say about projected nose plugs. That guy knew a ton about tuning racing motorcycles!!

I have used NGK BP9ES in my 500 race bike for 8 years at least now. Morris magneto, 98 octane pump gas or methanol - and they work just great. Lots of race miles and lots of good results.
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The N7YC is a projected nose plug too:

http://www.clubplug.net/champion_sym.html

I prefer Champions, mostly because they're original, but I've used everything and am currently using NGK.
 
I was a victim of an intermittently bad champion plug in my norton a long time ago. I believe the insulator was cracked up inside the electrode, so it tested ok when held against the head, but did not spark at the tip (this is my assumption) when threaded into the head. I tested the plugs and then put them back in so I could move on to check other potential problems. Finally I swapped plugs from one side to the other and the miss switched sides. From then on I was buying NGK's.
 
o0norton0o said:
I was a victim of an intermittently bad champion plug in my norton a long time ago. I believe the insulator was cracked up inside the electrode, so it tested ok when held against the head, but did not spark at the tip (this is my assumption) when threaded into the head. I tested the plugs and then put them back in so I could move on to check other potential problems. Finally I swapped plugs from one side to the other and the miss switched sides. From then on I was buying NGK's.
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As they say Champions had a few years where they had faults (back in the late 70s) but I haven't had any problems with them since the 80s, all I know is my Norton gets a miss fire when after using other plugs with the same heat range just after a week or 2, but never have that problem with the Champions.

Ashley
 
MY 2 CENTS......I have owned many Brit bikes and Norton is my favorite.
I tried many plugs for many years . First off, NGKs are the most common plug around so I stick with them. If the motor is in good shape, I run the BP7ES or BPR7 ES. If the motor is less than optimum or the carbs are worn then I use BP6ES so they will burn off the excess oil or fuel and last longer. Or if I go to a HIGH ALTITUDE.. Changing to a higher heat range is a lot easier and safer than rejetting for an altitude change. I lived in Lake Tahoe at 6500 feet and this was always a concern. And check often.

I found that despite what the MFG says, the heat ranges do not line up exactly from make to make and I learned not to trust crossover charts. This falls under "ELIMINATING VARIABLES" So I stick with one brand. NGK has served me well.

I am not concerned with high mileage with spark plugs. I will bet cash money that the guy that who has plugs for 5000 miles or longer would feel an improvement if he put in new plugs. immediately. If spark plugs are the tiniest bit suspect, I throw them out. If tuning, I always start with fresh plugs and change often. High mileage works OK in cars but not so well in old motorcycles.
 
seattle##gs said:
MY 2 CENTS......I have owned many Brit bikes and Norton is my favorite.
I tried many plugs for many years . First off, NGKs are the most common plug around so I stick with them. If the motor is in good shape, I run the BP7ES or BPR7 ES. If the motor is less than optimum or the carbs are worn then I use BP6ES so they will burn off the excess oil or fuel and last longer. Or if I go to a HIGH ALTITUDE.. Changing to a higher heat range is a lot easier and safer than rejetting for an altitude change. I lived in Lake Tahoe at 6500 feet and this was always a concern. And check often.
I found that despite what the MFG says, the heat ranges do not line up exactly from make to make and I learned not to trust crossover charts. This falls under "ELIMINATING VARIABLES" So I stick with one brand. NGK has served me well.
I am not concerned with high mileage with spark plugs. I will bet cash money that the guy that who has plugs for 5000 miles or longer would feel an improvement if he put in new plugs. immediately. If spark plugs are the tiniest bit suspect, I throw them out. If tuning, I always start with fresh plugs and change often. High mileage works OK in cars but not so well in old motorcycles.
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Re; “High mileage works OK in cars but not so well in old motorcycles.[/quote]

They can last well on the older motorcycles that do not fire on the exhaust stroke (i.e. double spark/ fire every 360 degrees.)
 
I have always found Champion plugs ok.. They have one great advantage over NGK , if fouled they will clear.
 
oldmikew said:
I have always found Champion plugs ok.. They have one great advantage over NGK , if fouled they will clear.
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If your timing is right and carbies set right they shouldn't foul up at all, I have over 25,000 miles out of my Champion plugs that are in my Norton now, they are running as good as the day I put them in just over 5 years ago, I pull them out once in awhile just to see what they look like then put them back in, the good thing with the Joe Hunt maggie they are aways clean with no build up or worn electrobe and always starts first kick every time.

Ashley
 
Over run low gear long steep hill been known to do it... ignition fault will also do it - got loads of those once with an electronic ignition . So too will burning oil - not my Commando but an old Es2 . Clean the plug and it will fire-not if its an NGK.
 
As luck would have it, I found an affordable box of NOS Champ N4Gs and I will use them as long as they are available. IIRC, comnoz suggested their resistance to fouling has more to do with their heat range than any other factor, but they don't cause the sorts of problems running an overly-hot plug usually does. Whatever is, they work great, and as others have said, you can clean a fouled plug and it'll continue to fire.
 
dave M said:
When I first started racing Champion were the standard that almost everyone used, but like others on here during the 1980s I had numerous bad experiences with them straight out of the box and so I started using other brands and never went back.
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I used to work for a firm that make the reamers for Champion and something called Gap spaces -these are flat metal things . During the late 60s they were taken over by Herbert Machine Tool co, and a few years later they closed them down. I wonder if this seems to coincide with the plug problems that this company suffered during the late 70s early 80s?

There was a lot more work in making the reamers than meets the eye, the champions were joined on the Ceramic/ metal by a radius, whereas NGK are just a chamfer look up the spark plug diagram in a Hayes workshop manual to see what I mean.[/QUOTE]
 
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I've always run Champion or NGK and do not see a difference between them.

I do not run ND, but that's based on a bad experience in the late 70s or early 80s: I worked part time at a British bike shop and we got a large batch of bad NDs; they were not sparking consistently when hot. The issue would not show up during a normal startup , warmup, or a ride around the block. It would only show up after extended running under load: freeway, etc. When the engines cooled down the plugs went back to normal. In any case, we tuned-up a number of customer bikes and we sold a number of plugs. Most came back for warranty work or exchange. After a couple of days of pulling our hair we traced the issue to the bad plugs. We returned all of them to our supplier and stuck with Champion and NGK after that.
 
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