Ken

I can assure you it was not dropped, and was gapped correctly prior to going in.... I showed it to Tony White and he thoght it looked like it had been hit by a bit of broken piston ring possibly but as i said car has been running fine on the old Bosch plugs ever since.

These were from CAF (camberley Auto Factors) so assume them to be genuine

OOh sooty!

as i said think you have some other issues to look at rather than the plugs
the photo of the melted plug isnt clear enough to see whats happened is it fouled, clouted or melted?
there are NGK "B"s and "Bp"s which have a protruding electrode they might be too close for comfort

look at the markings on the side someone hasnt put the wrong plug back in the box and returned it to the factors for a refund ......not an un common practice as its often "fit or return".

mixture and timing should be spot on, was there any sign of pinking? what pistons/type of engine do you have and how do you set the timing etc will give us something to help you with.

All I can say its defo nothing to do with the chassis or tyres

Sean

Fair enough pat, but thought id mention
They will be genuine if from camberly

Yes car was set advanced slightly approx 5-8 degrees before timing hole (as told it would have "more poer"), and yes it did pink when going up hills! It has since been re-set (whilst at Salbris) to on the "hole" timing but it does still pink if pushed hard up hills!, and def has less power!!. Still toying with buying a 123 Ignition system.

OK thats why the plug melted its been running way too hot, fingers crossed you havn't dammaged pistons or scuffed the barrels- whoever gave you that advice isnt a mechanic. and certainly is out of touch with how these cars( or any for that matter) work on modern unleaded petrol.

id also be looking at retarding the ignition a bit from the "peg in the hole" static point. id also hold off spending on 123 or the like as they don't fix timing errors by the mechanic

find the peg hole mark the bellhousing and and note the point on the flywheel(dot with paint) turn the crank anti clockwise (from the front) and mark the next tooth ( or mark the tooth to the right of the spot marked one) time the engine to that and see how it goes.

ideally the engine should be timed dynamically with a strobe so that the ignition is set to optimum where its needed ie full power full load.- not just timed so it idles with no load( which is what static does)

Sean
as an ongoing experiment i set the timing while in salbris to static+a bit. On French petrol 4 up with all the camping gear and a trailer it could be pushed to the point where it started to pink wide open throttle up some steep hills( this was about 3* or a tooth more advanced than static)

when we had stopped for a fill up of uK petrol at leeds castle services, 5 miles up the road the car pinked so badly that it was barely driveable. i backed off to the static point where the advance had been set by strobe( lost yet?) this is about 1/2 tooth retarded from peg on my car

so clearley there is much more leeway setting the ingnition on these cars on French petrol. and why much mor care has to be taken setting the ignition ( taking into account the ACTUAL advance ) when you use the car in the UK with UK petrol.

I can never remember which is advancing and retarding. As te flywheel goes clockwise, which would it be? As mentioned elsewhere 2 teeth after the peg hole (flywheel clockwise) works well. That's advanced is it not?

Ps sorry for stupid question

2 teeth before peg hole is advanced

yup
the crank and flywheel rotate clockwise when looking from the front.
so...
peg in hole mark on flywheel thats the datum thats 8* BEFORE TDC
so clockwise to the right of that mark is closer to TD less advanced - retarded
right anti clock on the flywheel is advanced more advanced

easier to remember what it does at the points box as thats opposite turn it anti clockwise thats turning the clock back in time thats retarded,
turn it clockwise thats winding the clock forwards thats advancing

secret is to remember peg=8*BTDC

(trust me a s a dyslexic trying to remember ow all that all works takes visualisation and my hands spinning round like a demented widmill)