E30 Zone

Hi, i would like to know what spark plugs to put into my 2.7 stroker. I have given the specs below if it is of any help

thank you & its much appreciated!

2.7 eta block with crank, rods and pistons
325i '885' head
325i inlet manifold with injectors
325i AFM & Ecu with a chip from Ant at A tech
standard 325i exhaust manifold

Once again, thank you!

Bosch W8LCR, or Bosch "Supers" sound about right. You shouldn't need a different heatrange than a stock b25, should you?

Don't bother with bosch plugs!!!
NGK BPR6ES are by far the best mate.
All bosch plugs are shite!

there is no need to change your sparks unless your running around 100hp over stock power, and only the you need to go 1 heat range cooler so just put in nice new oem ones. NGK's are good

Kind of funny how so many people use them and never notice a problem. Bosch or NGK doesn't matter as long as you get the right ones, W8LCR or their NGK equivalent. Fancy platinum or quad electrodes is not helpful.

unless you need them, i run NGK race plugs, NOT cheap though

e30-dk wrote:Don't bother with bosch plugs!!!
NGK BPR6ES are by far the best mate.
All bosch plugs are shite!

I've ran several sets of both in my engine over the years(whichever were cheapest at the time), never really noticed a difference between them.

Any particular reason you reckon the Bosch items are crap?

The life expectancy of bosch plugs in all my experience is shocking compared to ngk. They tend to breakdown quicker therefore produce a flater spark rate.

Okay bmw use bosch as standard but that's due to the fact they are their supplier, not because they are best. I've never quiet understood this tbh.

For some reason I have 2 bosch coilpacks in my m50, prob as 2 broke down and the last owner of the engine found they were cheaper, these will ne changed! But pleased to see that he put ngk's in her which tells me he looked after it in my opinion.

Fair enough, that's a valid point.

And as for BMW using parts that aren't necissarily the best, I hear that! Why they'd put Lucas brake servos in the e60 is daft, they fail very early, and the replacements are Girling units!

To be quite honest with you mate manufactures do this for a reason... Money money money! They know parts will fail early then you need to go back and buy more.
I give you an example.. M50 engines weak spots are water pump falier due to plastic impelars.... Why not make with metal ones to start with??
The same with the thermostadt housings, why make them out of plastic??
And vanos seals fail cos they can't handle heat and oil well, so why do it? Its obvious they have to withstand heat ect... They are part of a bloody engine!! LOL.
As you well know if a water pump fails it can be very very costly unless your like me and can spot the signs early enough and change it for what argueably "should" be a "standard feature. Its crazy!!

Preaching to the choir, brother!

It may indeed save a few pennies in the manufacturing process, and up their repair department's revenue...

But in the end it just affects their brand imaging, no longer are they seen as well built, durable, dependable vehicles...

I'd rather a new Benz than a new BMW nowadays...

new Benz or BMW... both have variable build it seems.

NGK plugs only, never had one fail, lost the centre out of a bosch which lunched my ££££ engine build, never used em since.

NGK BPR6ES every time !!

Lovely! Thank you guys very mich... NGk it is!

Ant, the chip has arrived thank you!!

A wise decision mate and your m20 will thank you for it !!

I HATE HATE HATE Bosch plugs. Alway NGK for me (on my M42/iS).

StuBeeDoo wrote:Slightly OT - I've always used Bosch plugs in my M20s. Never had any problems with them.
However, until I bought the E30 I had stuck with NGKs on every car I owned for the previous 25 years.

As there are so many positive comments about NGKs in M20s here, maybe I'll give them a try next time.

I listened to consensus on here, cheap plugs, the best? sounded good to me, but running on LPG killed NGK BPR6ES' in under 300 miles on the way up to Scotland for the zone roam. . . very poor starting until a new set of bosch super fours went in, which last for ages and are half the price of reccommended LPG irdium items; Worth a £10 try on the NGK's to see if you get the same results as me?

e301988325i wrote:I listened to consensus on here, cheap plugs, the best? sounded good to me, but running on LPG killed NGK BPR6ES' in under 300 miles on the way up to Scotland for the zone roam. . . very poor starting until a new set of bosch super fours went in, which last for ages and are half the price of reccommended LPG irdium items; Worth a £10 try on the NGK's to see if you get the same results as me?

Alex, as I was typing my post above I was thinking to myself "I'm sure I've read somewhere that NGKs don't like LPG!".
Is BPR6ES the correct plug for your car? Or did you change the heat range to suit LPG?

JoeDiese wrote:You shouldn't need a different heatrange than a stock b25, should you?

Yeah you do. 2.7 has higher compression - higher compression means different plug type.

might want to go one cooler on the lpg stu, when you say "killed" how so?

JoeDiese wrote:Why they'd put Lucas brake servos in the e60 is daft, they fail very early, and the replacements are Girling units!

Lucas and Girling are the same company. IIRC Lucas bought/took-over Girling in the early '80s.

Back to spark plugs, the NGK ones for 2.7s are BP5ES.

HairyScreech wrote:might want to go one cooler on the lpg stu

Does that mean that I should be using BP6ES?

I use them on all my M20's they run like a clock, start easier in the cold

NGK FTW

HairyScreech wrote:when you say "killed" how so?

When I say killed I mean, after the first 300 miles oon the motorway and a couple of starts at services along the way (if only you could specify a long range bladder for the Mrs), the car was a nightmare to start from hot or cold until I put new plugs in. The single alectrode NGK's looked ok when removed, perhaps a little white, then they had only done 1,000 miles on lpg in total.

up one number to go cooler on NGK plugs

BPR7ES I have run 8ES in a turbo M20 with no issues too.