OK. So, I bit the bullet after work yesterday and swapped the Iridium 8 heat range NGKs for the copper 9 "race" NGK plugs I had. I'm not convinced it was a step forwards.. Even with my current very conservative ignition timing and even running a bottle of the p*ss water octane boost with every tank (there are none of the effective ones for sale here. Just STP, GAT, Cyclo..) I have some part throttle conditions where I can reliably induce a little ping. Changing to the 9 heat range didn't affect my ability to induce some ping. However, it did noticeably take the crispness out of the throttle response that had returned the day before when I put the new cap and rotor in. This morning, cold, it even wanted to die out during braking which I'd never had before. I did a short full throttle blast on a short open stretch and it cleared up a bit but I think I'm obviously too cold here with the 9s. Gonna throw those 8s back in when I get a chance.
Anyway, having them all out let me see them better. The little bit of oil you see is from my valve cover gaskets. I have thick ones glued to the valve covers for good clearance. They just don't ever seem to seal up nicely. The engine is a mess at the moment with the oil seepage doing a great job at binding all the road dust to everything..
1,3,5,7 with parking garage light
1,3,5,7 with flash
2,4,6,8 with parking garage light
2,4,6,8 with flash
Sam