don,
He means the orientation of the Cathode so it does not "shade" the spark
from the incoming air/fuel mix. You mark where the cathode is, screw the
plug in and note where it ends up. You try all your spark plugs and usually
end up with four that do not need shimming. I purchased extra just in case.
I am not that anal anymore.
Ken Lewis
86 Transporter Crew Cab
60 356 T-5 Porsche
http://neksiwel.20m.com/
Vanagon tech, pixs, O2 monitor gadget
----- Original Message -----
From: "don spence" <dspence@OANET.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 7:56 PM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] vanagon Digest - 11 Jun 2004 - Special issue
(#2004-549)

> Uh Bruce, no offence but I think you've been taken by an urban myth.
> The angle of the plugs entry into the combustion chamber is controlled
> by the angle of the spark plug hole or port. Any lop-sided shim/washer
> would only effect the seal at the base of the plug. I can't imagine a
> washer that could overpower and reorient a plug bore.  If you want to
> change the angle you'd have to drill and tap the holes where you want
> them.   yes? No?
> On Friday, June 11, 2004, at 03:28  PM, Automatic digest processor
> wrote:
>
> > Any of you hot rodders out there remember the indexing washers for
> > sparkplugs? These were essentially shims that you would use to "aim"
> > your
> > spark plug when installing your plugs in the head. When torqued, if
> > your
> > plug wasn't at the optimum angle (spark not facing the most turbulent
> > fuel/air mixture), you pulled the plug out threw in one or two more
> > indexing
> > washers and the angle of the plug could be aimed to optimize burn for
> > most
> > power (they weren't worried about emissions in those days, but a
> > better burn
> > is cleaner in this case).
>