Morris Minor Owners Club

I was talking to a mechanic the other day who told me to get shot of the Champion plugs as they aren't as good as NGK ones as the Champions ones tends to overheat too much. I have always used NGK plugs on my mowers, chainsaws, hedge cutters, etc.. but only fitted Champions to my 2 Morrises as they were part of the service kit. Does anyone have a view as I am thinking of buying a box of 10 NGK BP6ES plugs for my servicing kit.

AVOID the NGK pugs - there is absolutely nothing wrong with Champions.....why on earth would they 'overheat'?? They are available in a whole range of heat ratings. Is your engine standard? Or modified? Where DO these 'mechanics' get these crazy ideas ????

Champions are fine for an 'A' series engine. They did get a (deserved) poor reputation in the late 70's when they didn't work well in the Ford engines of that period and mud sticks.

I use them without any problems.

Champion are THE Champions

Just to add to the mix, I recently bought some Champions on eBay from 'an MGB shop' and they gave me no end of problems, I eventually diagnosed my missfire to the fact 3 out of the 4 weren't sparking properly.
Moral - even the best plugs have their off days!

Champions every time.

i have used champion plugs all the time no probs

No wonder they 'didn't spark right'.....if you weren't using them in an MGB! Being realistic - some of the spark plug (all makes) problems come about with using resistive leads, with resistive caps - and resistive plugs! So if the plug code has an 'R' in it - don't over-do the resistive components upstream!

They were N9Y's, not 'R' ones, sold by a large 'MGB' supplier on ebay, so possibly sold as Midget plugs, which I used in my Minor.... Got it running again on some NOS Autolite AL5's I happened to have on the passenger seat!
I still use Champions, I'm just pointing out that even the best spark plugs have their down days!

I swapped to NGK as I always found that one Champion plug would eventually fail but then I run them for ages. I also found Bero reliable. Didn't someone have a problem with the tip coming off an NGK ?

I was only yanking your chain matey....

Hi,
I use Accuspark AC9C plugs ever since I had some problems with both Champion and NGK a couple of years back.
These are great and I swear by them. I used them first in my 1098 and now in my 1275. Link below:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170667886852? ... 1423.l2648

However all this is about personal preference and people must go with what they are comfortable with. Mind you, this type of post has it's value too, in that it presents members with a range of alternatives.
Best wishes,
Mike.

Champion spark plug caps seem expensive, make a fortune on ebay, shame I've only got 3.

Thanks for the feedback chaps; it seems that the vast majority here run their Morris on Champion plugs. That's good enough for me. Incidentally the mechanic who told me about the 'problem' runs a Minor LCV himself and is a classic car buff. Perhaps he had a bad incident in the past. I will stick to the NGK for my horticultural machinery though.

I run NGK BP8ES in our 1380 and never had problem with them in the last 15 years since the restoration with them. Started off with BP7ES, but changed to BP8ES during the well-documented phase of local overheating after removing the by-pass hose. One of the BP7ES plugs burnt out, so went one step colder and have stayed there. Could go back to BP7ES now though.

In the original engine, a modified 948, I ran Champion N9Y's, and N5 before that, before projected core nose plugs were commonly available (mid '60's) - also never had a problem with either of them.

Ahh - so it was the BP7ES plugs that caused the misfiring! Not the missing bypass hose.....

Really? I don't think so.

Cause and effect:

Cause - overheating though poor water circulation

Effect - sticking valve (evidenced by yellow stain on valve stem), burnt out No. 1 exhaust valve and burnt out plug. Upped the plug spec to BP8ES during the problem time to see if it helped. No more burnt out plugs, but still misfired under load though valve 'nipping'. Replaced by-pass hose and no more problems since - that was around 5 years and 25,000 miles ago.

The topic is on Champion vs NGK and people's experience with them - can we stay on topic?

Hahahahah - I was yanking your chain Richard...

Yawn!

Yawn!
Wasn't meant to be posted twice, but maybe??