Original GT500 Spark Plugs

[Fast Fords]

Did the '67 GT500's come with an Autolite BF42 spark plug with the star on them or did they come with something else ?

Thanks..Greg.

[Bob Gaines]

Did the '67 GT500's come with an Autolite BF42 spark plug with the star on them or did they come with something else ?

Thanks..Greg.

BF 42 is what is called out for in the 67 Shelby owners manual. The star plug is what was being manufactured at the time.

[Fast Fords]

Thanks Bob.

What would a set of star plugs be worth ?

[Bob Gaines]

Thanks Bob.

What would a set of star plugs be worth ?

I hate pricing other peoples stuff.

[acman63]

As my Dad used to tell me .  son  you cant be both the buyer and the seller.    You put the parts out at what you think they should go for and see if they sell.  If they dont then you adjust accordingly.

the 42s are way more plentifull than the 32s

[s2ms]

There was also a transitional Autolite plug that might have been used during this time. Did not have the star logo but also were not the more common Power Tip plugs that I believe started showing up in 1968. Basically same as the star logo plug without the star, same fonts, typically found in the star boxes.

We had a nice discussion about these on the old forum, IIRC it was thought these were used in the late 66-67 time frame. I've tried to find more info on these but haven't been very successful.

[shelbydoug]

As my Dad used to tell me .  son  you cant be both the buyer and the seller.    You put the parts out at what you think they should go for and see if they sell.  If they dont then you adjust accordingly.

the 42s are way more plentifull than the 32s

If the owners manual says 42's, that's Ford data and I can't argue with that but every "high-performance" Ford engine that I know of uses 32's.

About 5 years ago Motorcraft discontinued 32's and modified the listings to show that the 42 was the same as the 32. It is not. I wonder if they re-printed the owners manual to reflect that? (joke here, don't have a hissy fit!) 

Often when running Webers on the street, 42's will work a little cleaner but they are a kind of an rpm limiter.

With an FE I'm not sure how significant that is simply because they largely are 6,000 to 6,500 rpm engines and a 42 would limit the rpm anyway with a 10.5:1 ACTUAL compression ratio to that range (5,000 to 6,000 or so).

[1967 eight barrel]

DO NOT RUN BF32's.  They're too cold and they'll foul quickly. Ask me how I know. My dual quad 428 makes a mess of them, as do most. Bob Gaines will tell you the same. The owner's manual calls for BF42. Autolites supersede to a 45.
If you are not competing in a judged class I would run the NGK V-Power WR5 plugs.  They are 2.99 a plug from Summit.
Here is the link.                          -Keith
https://www.summitracing.com/tx/search?SortBy=BestKeywordMatch&SortOrder=Ascending&keyword=NGK%20wr5

[shelbydoug]

Can the judges even see what plugs are in there?

[1967 eight barrel]

Doug, I often wonder how they "inspect" many things that are supposed to be OEM. I have 16 BF32s here. I saw the BF32 in the Ford performance handbook and bought them based on that recommendation.  They just do not run well. Perhaps they would be fine if I beat the snot out of it somewhere, but it's got too expensive to flog an FE these days. Parts don't fall off trees anymore.

                                                                                                 -Keith

[Bob Gaines]

Can the judges even see what plugs are in there?

You would be surprised. It depends on how the plug ends up being oriented in the head and how the boot fits. Many times you can see the heat range number and other times the star. Just last season I judged a 65 that instead of BF32 Star plugs had at least one of the plugs some off color heat range . It was most likely a break in plug that the owner forgot to exchange. I could see just enough of the printing peeking out from under the boot to determine what it was.

[CSX 3183]

Well perhaps I'm an anomaly, I've used nothing but BF 32's all my life, that's what came on my KR, new off of the lot.  I used 32's on my 427 2 X 4 1966 Cobra, ran her up to 165 MPH, AND plenty of city driving, 32's  in my 68 427 GT-E, runs like a scalded dog.  As far as I'm concerned, the parts book says 32's for all HP for engines, and I couldn't agree more.  I have several sets that I'll, probably never use, as they don't fail.

[Bob Gaines]

It is not much of a issue now but I can remember back in the day when we were driving the big block cars more on a daily basis that it was common to switch to the BF 42 plug because it was slightly hotter and did not foul out so quickly like the BF 32's did. Don't get me wrong the BF32's were a better performance plug but you only had to do a few of those mandatory pain in the behind plug changes on a car you depended on for transportation to school and or work before you decided to compromise to the BF42's in a CJ Mustang or Shelby.

[shelbydoug]

It is not much of a issue now but I can remember back in the day when we were driving the big block cars more on a daily basis that it was common to switch to the BF 42 plug because it was slightly hotter and did not foul out so quickly like the BF 32's did. Don't get me wrong the BF32's were a better performance plug but you only had to do a few of those mandatory pain in the behind plug changes on a car you depended on for transportation to school and or work before you decided to compromise to the BF42's in a CJ Mustang or Shelby.

You are both correct but it depends on perspective. I would lean to the 42 with a 67 GT500 with an automatic trans. That's something that you need to be concerned with being in stop and go traffic with the "original transportation" scenario.

I honestly also think that the pcv set up effects the plugs fouling a lot. In that the original '67 pcv set up for some reason is bogus. It doesn't work. Not connected to the air cleaner, it doesn't, but hold on.

I have been using oil scrapers lately installed in line with the pcv connected to the intake manifold and have found that it reduces the oil dumped into the intake manifold. That helps keeping the plugs from fouling sooner.

So MAYBE SA is/was RIGHT in NOT connecting the pcv directly into the intake manifold on the '67s? Hum? And I thought that was a screw up? Great big silly me. 

[2112]

If you are using period NOS  Autolites, you might be just fine, but as much as it pains me to admit this, being a Ford die-hard, modern Autolite plugs just aren't the same as they used to be.

Same can be said for Champion.....and Goodyear tires.

For anything actually being used, and that includes my nearly 900 horse big blocks, I now use nothing but NGK.  😳  Blasphemy, I know.