Changed plugs out today...9500 miles.......they all looked like this.

Akro SS headers tomorrow.Installed Supersprox Stealth(steel) 42 in rear today...also front countershaft...17T Kawasaki OEM.Front sprocket was starting to get a mild hook in it.Rear was fine...

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 10/3/2013 @ 6:33 PM *

i still have to do mine after 5 years. 9500 miles!!! ha!

Your plug looks excellent! Nice normal wear and tear, nothing out of the ordinary. She is running beautifully and healthy!!!

You see those shiny spot on the ground strap and on the tip of the electrode?(the second pic is a good example) That is slag coming from the electrode. Little bits of her melt every time that spark jumps the gap. A spark jumping that gap is exactly how an arc welder works. This causes the gap to get wider over time. As the gap gets larger it start to require more energy to jump the spark. After awhile it burns itself out of spec and without you even knowing it she has already begun to randomly miss at high rpm and under load robbing you of power and fuel efficiency. It was time to replace them. Have you checked the gap? They look like they are out of spec already. All of mine were and so were C's. I had some carbon build up on a couple of mine from running shit for fuel this summer. I love that little electrode, every one I've seen so far looks like yours. Nice little pool of slag melting away but still leaving a decent edge for that spark to fire strong. I'm starting to really like this style of spark plug. I might start putting it in my other toys to she how she performs in different environments.

I have a weird fascination with spark plugs. I like to inspect them and scrutinize every last detail. It's a window inside the combustion chamber to look in without having to tear the engine apart to see what's what about the condition/health of the motor and potential issues before they become a problem.
Also, keep using that fuel you've been dumping in her, that stuffs seems to be burning nicely. I can tell you had the fueling changed more than once because of a few inconsistencies after looking at your other pictures of them all lined up. Only thing is after seeing what 9500miles looks like, I'd stick with the factory recommendation of 7500. One of them was def getting lazy.

Thanks for posting this up Green!

I want to see every bodies spark plugs when they pull them out. Good, bad, ugly, carbon caked, ghost white, melted, busted, and rusted, even ones from a blown motor. I don't care. I want to study them and learn what I can about em from the stories they have to tell and find possible patterns(mark them 1-4) for future diagnostics and troubleshooting to aid both myself and help you guys.

* Last updated by: nasty on 10/3/2013 @ 10:08 PM *

Glad ya got something out of it.The plugs are lined up on that paper...left.#4...right..#1.I think these plugs run really well.Plenty of pop that's for sure;)I'm sure the flash also had something to do with it....she's very responsive and strong.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 10/3/2013 @ 11:51 PM *

Your plug looks excellent!

They do look great, here is a spark plug viewer tool!

Kofla

Riding My Own Biography
2010 ZX-14 MotoVlog

You read a plug down at the bottom of the porcelain were it meets the metal. This is surface burn, not where the 'real burn' is. The plug tool is for deep reading.

Look at how 1-3 are rich, 2-4 are lean. Looks like the 4 individual maps to me?

So the two 'lean' ones...I should be worried?

No, I would not be concerned. If you want to see lean I should show you what mine looked like with stock fueling. I still have them sitting in my toolbox. Also your plugs are starting to confirm a suspicion I have. Mine are similar. The same two plugs showed a more lean mixture. If I remember right when C showed me his it was the same.

* Last updated by: nasty on 10/5/2013 @ 7:21 PM *

It is a very slight difference. I don't know yet why exactly Kawi has done this.

The 2 inside cylinders are run richer to combat the extra heat, outside cylinders always run cooler.

Neil

We are sequential fire. The evolution goes from a single set of points, a single coil, where this would fire twice when the engine would fire again on the exhaust side. So if it fired at 9 o'clock before TDC compression, it fires at 3 o'clock ATDC on the power stroke. Then, the electronic ignition came in, and it kept a better time being the rubbing block is now eliminated from closing the gap on the points.

This ignition still fired twice unit the spark stick happened. Then, it switched to individual fire and a one time spark, which means digital, where, electronic means analog or more than one. Catch that tricky abstract?

So now we can make individual maps for each cylinder. We can pump out a lot of low rpm emissions, or we can mess with a few cylinders and run the average down to meet emissions.

We are still a 4-cylinder engine and most every time a 4 came out, there was never a factory installed low speed jet different from one cylinder to the next. Nor was there a main jet to think the one block of a heat sink would need more or less a different fuel mix to cool an air cooled block of metal hitting the air anyway?

So no, there is no cooling of certain cylinders back then. The evolution of the ignition system was being mandated by parts per billion and do something about the unspents. We breath a lot better behind a new car. Ever sit behind a classic car without emissions? An old farm truck like the 48 fords running around? Smellers like that you don't remember do you, is because of the forced fueling man had to come up with.

Wait for plasma ignitions... I won't be around but it's coming.

So...this 'emissions' thing...using a few cylinders to burn richer or leaner is okay then?It looks like a very small amount of difference...the pics...it will be okay?I'm getting max firing performance out of them all?Nothing's at risk there is it?

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 10/5/2013 @ 9:20 PM *

From here, greenie, those are looking sweet. Yes, a very small amount. Most of it looks like, for example, if they pegged a 28.2 at X to Y, we switch to N, we see a 28.1. So map wise, she is chasing idle emissions and look at the range is one example. We then see at the higher rpm 29.1 say to a 33.0. So yeah, there is a lot going on map wise. Nothing to be concerned about.

If you saw gray splotches peppered around the brown ring, that's det off the piston at peak knock. So peak compression is TDC. That's when the piston is closest to the plug. It's like a bomb going off and leaves a crater. The proverbial hole in the piston.

So to read the porcelain from here, I see nada in the way of piston damage vs. tune.

Thank You Hub...appreciate your insight here...thanks;)

YW, but hey, I'm no expert. Just taking a guess at WOT I know by personal experience messing with the very first 14.

I'd say you're an expert....totally.