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Spark Plugs and Carbs by Ron Price
Not every powered parachute pilot has the opportunity to test different bolt 
on products for their unit so they read about it from articles such as this. 
My name is Ron Price and I am a BUCKEYE dealer based in Baytown, TX just east 
of Houston, TX where there is an abundance of farm land and turf farms.  Not 
only a great training area but I'm able to fly year round and enjoy training 
pilots on there schedule, even though the humid weather can get unbearable at 
times a well tuned engine can make it without any faults.  I first started 
flying in April 1999 with my new BUCKEYE 582 Dream Machine which comes 
standard with the NGK spark plugs, I quickly noticed that even though these 
plugs fired and operated well that my fuel consumption was higher than I 
intended I had given into the fact that my weight and the higher humidity 
probably played a major cause for this.  I decided to experiment with the 
spark plugs first in my quest to get better fuel economy, in doing so I went 
with the BOSCH PLATINUM +4 plug (4417) and quickly noticed a better fuel 
burn, rather than flying up to three hours on the NGK plugs the BOSCH bumped 
me up to 3 1/2 hours right from the start.  I thought this was great but 
there must be a way to squeeze a little more so it was on to the carburetors, 
the BING 54 can't be any simpler to adjust the needle if you take your time. 
The main needle was set in the middle slot, I moved it to the top slot which 
put it in the leanest position and then went test flying.  My main purpose of 
testing was first to check the temperature ranges of the water coolant, 
cylinder head temperature and the exhaust gas temperature.  Water at cruise 
was a respectable 146 degrees, the cylinder head was from 190 to 220 and the 
exhaust gas was 1020 to 1090 these were all good numbers then came the final 
test what was my fuel burn after all this?  Over a three day period and 12 
1/2 hours of flying the fuel burn averaged 2.3 to 2.5 gallons per hour and on 
the 4th day I went for the true test which was flying until the fuel tank 
went dry, after 4 hours and 18 minutes 2.39 gallons per hour was my burn. 
Not bad for an amateur pilot at the time, since the test I put a total of 110 
hours on the plugs before retiring them and depending on the weather they 
still gave me between 2.3 to 2.5 gal per hour fuel burn solo flight.  The 
down side to using the plug is that it is a cold start plug and it is easy to 
over prime and flood, with a recoil start that will give you a good work out 
as well as a lot of ground time, just prime half of what you normally would 
and you should be fine.  The other down side is that this plug will not work 
on an inverted engine, to much gas and oil load up on the plug before it can 
fire.  BOSCH corporation will not indorse or acknowledge their plug being 
used in 2-cycle engines but they were happy to receive the input on my test 
anyway.  Since my first day that I've flown a powered parachute I have logged 
162 hours with a goal of reaching 200 by my first anniversary, but even more 
so I enjoy flying either by myself, with a passenger or with anyone else that 
comes out to fly all the way from garage homebuilt to factory ready to fly, 
powered parachutes is a great way to enjoy flying and to meet some great 
people.  Even though I have had great results with the BOSCH plugs every 
person is going to have a different opinion, if you should need anymore 
information on the plugs just call me or e-mail, HAPPY AND SAFE FLYING!!!!

Ron Price
DOLPHIN PARA-AVIATION SERVICES
9606 Garth Rd
Baytown, TX 77521-8707

PH- 281-421-9987
DOLPHINRON@aol.com