Tempest vs Champion

bluerooster

bluerooster

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What are the pros and cons? I have a set of champions which I dropped on the concrete today.
They are old but servicable, until the fall. Rather that test and inspect each one for cracked insulators, I decided to install 8 new plugs. All there was in the shop is Tempest, so I checked the gaps, and installed them. But just curious as to what the pros and cons of each are, other than the Tempest being a couple bucks cheaper.
 
Friends don't let friends buy Champion.

Seriously, there has been a lot written comparing the two with the gist being that there are a lot of issues with Champion.
 
I really don't like the painted coating on the super spendy Champion fine wires. I can't remember if the missives are that way or not.
 
Even before the negative publicity about C, I switched to T. Like em! Lasting long time.
Being the complete cheapskate I am, I would still inspect the dropped plugs and test them so as to have a few spares.
 
The Twin Cessna Flyers Forum group that I also frequent is pretty unanimous on favoring Tempest.
 
My experience is the Tempest last longer than the Champs.
 
With Champion changing the design of their resistors, there's no major functional difference. There's also no reason to pay extra for the name. We switched to Tempest because of price and not one customer has complained.
 
tyndall said:
With Champion changing the design of their resistors, there's no major functional difference. There's also no reason to pay extra for the name. We switched to Tempest because of price and not one customer has complained.
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If I'm not mistaken (certainly could be, haha), the "new" champions were indentical in appearance and part number to the "old", meaning that you could be getting the "old" still if you got one or more that had been in inventory. Perhaps all the old stock has been used up by now.

I do know that my O-470 ran much smoother once I swapped the older champions out for tempest, and several of the champions failed spark and/or ohm testing. They were from the era of the problem resistors.
 
Tempest all the way. I wouldn't put Champion plugs in my lawn mower.

There have been some serious issues with Champions. Even good ones have a high internal resistance, which makes a lower quality spark. Tempest plugs will make your engine run much better. On the 414 we have fine wire Tempest plugs.
 
Couple of years ago I did the ohm meter test on the 24 Champion massive electrode spark plugs in my plane. The whole set had maybe 150 hours total on them. All but two failed. All 24 went back into the airplane after servicing them. They all ran fine. I'm still using Champions, the majority are still from that set (I've dropped at least two while servicing) and none are the so-called "new improved" version (I too am a cheapskate). So far haven't seen a compelling reason to chuck out perfectly good plugs or change brand.

Not difficult to tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, but I seriously doubt any of us could tell the difference between a brand new set of properly gapped and installed Champions or Tempests in our planes.

One moment please while I order "Shields Up".
 
GRG55 said:
Couple of years ago I did the ohm meter test on the 24 Champion massive electrode spark plugs in my plane. The whole set had maybe 150 hours total on them. All but two failed. All 24 went back into the airplane after servicing them. They all ran fine. I'm still using Champions, the majority are still from that set (I've dropped at least two while servicing) and none are the so-called "new improved" version (I too am a cheapskate). So far haven't seen a compelling reason to chuck out perfectly good plugs or change brand.

Not difficult to tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, but I seriously doubt any of us could tell the difference between a brand new set of properly gapped and installed Champions or Tempests in our planes.

One moment please while I order "Shields Up".
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Yes you should shield. Day one I think has never been the issue. 500 hours has...
 
Clark1961 said:
Yes you should shield. Day one I think has never been the issue. 500 hours has...
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Yes, I am amused by those pilots around my airport that attest to the remarkable improvement from their brand new Tempests, which replaced their crapped out 500+ hour Champions. Most of mine are at 420 hours now, so I suppose we'll see.

Unfortunately, my anecdotal observation over the years is many pilots give the same amount of attention to their spark plugs as they do their magnetos...almost none.
 
I'm not saying one way or the other. I have used Champion for 20+ years. I did replace several plugs recently and did replace the old Champion with Tempest.

The one thing I did not like about the Tempest was I had to use a different socket. The nut on the Champion located higher on the plug. The way the engine baffling is on my engine top plugs are hard to remove with a standard deep socket, so I cut the socket down. My shortened socket does not work on the Tempest, because the nut is at the base of the plug.

Most of the folks I know are going with the Tempest. I have heard that Champion has changed something in the manufacturing process and the quality of the product has lowered (no proof just water cooler talk).

I'm thinking it is just a preference, one may not be any better than the other. Like motor oil, I have used Aero Shell for years but have switched to a Phillips product lately.
 
Do I get a higher TBO? More horsepower? Increased gross weight? More speed? Improved fuel range? No?

No.
 
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I'm surprised that magneto manufacturers don't tagged mags with "WARNING SPARK PLUGS WITH EXTREEMLY HIGH RESISTANCE MAY DAMAGE THIS PART AND VOID WARRANTY" or something like that.
 
Modern aviation ignition systems (not those held back by the FAA) typically use automotive spark plugs and wire harnesses. They work great. Better than the old school stuff. Hot damn I sure do love the EXP category!
 
Omalley1537 said:
If I'm not mistaken (certainly could be, haha), the "new" champions were indentical in appearance and part number to the "old", meaning that you could be getting the "old" still if you got one or more that had been in inventory. .
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THAT is a big part of the problem. Champion sheepishly changed the design, but were too cheap to change/republish all their application charts.

So we/the customer have no idea WHAT we're is getting.

Champion...........bad.....bad.....bad!!
 
kgruber said:
THAT is a big part of the problem. Champion sheepishly changed the design, but were too cheap to change/republish all their application charts.

So we/the customer have no idea WHAT we're is getting.

Champion...........bad.....bad.....bad!!
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That makes it easy just buy tempest.
 
My mechanic says the tempest resistance test is just marketing and has nothing to do with whether the plug is bad or not...I have no idea if he is right, but from the posts above, if it is marketing, it is working!

I've used both, and I don't notice a difference.
 
I thought twin Cessna drivers were BG advocates.
 
Thanx for the input! Mabe it was a good thing that I screwed up and they all hit the floor. ;)
 
kgruber said:
THAT is a big part of the problem. Champion sheepishly changed the design, but were too cheap to change/republish all their application charts.

So we/the customer have no idea WHAT we're is getting.

Champion...........bad.....bad.....bad!!
Click to expand...

Really? You can't be serious. If you don't know what you are getting its not because the info isn't there.

Why would they need to republish their application charts? Same engine, same plug # as before.
Tempest plug numbers are one-to-one with Champions for all the engines I'm familiar with. They use the exact same number as Champion with the letter "U" in front.

It's easy to determine if the Champion plug itself is the "new, improved" variety or one of the allegedly crappy old ones. Look down the barrel of plug where the ignition lead is installed. If there is a slot in the connector at the bottom it is an old style plug, if there is no slot its the "new" variety.
 
Stewartb said:
Modern aviation ignition systems (not those held back by the FAA) typically use automotive spark plugs and wire harnesses. They work great. Better than the old school stuff. Hot damn I sure do love the EXP category!
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Yep! In my RV-8 I have dual P-mags firing NGK plugs; $2.50 each at an auto parts store, 8 of them for $20. Run 'em 200 hours, toss and replace with new. They run great and never had a fouled plug in 1360 hours. Nice.
 
Tempest The best. Plugs as well as oil filters using it for 1000 + hours and no problem.
I am surprised that Champion gave up being competitive and not making any meaningful changes and aggressively advertising it. If Champion makes quality improvements and proves it , I am willing to take another look at it.
 
As part of my plane's annual before pre-buy it got 12 new Champion spark plugs (Massive electrode). They have 15 hours on them.

Is it worth changing these to Tempest now?
Wait to annual?
Wait the lifetime of the plug?
 
Mtns2Skies said:
As part of my plane's annual before pre-buy it got 12 new Champion spark plugs (Massive electrode). They have 15 hours on them.

Is it worth changing these to Tempest now?
Wait to annual?
Wait the lifetime of the plug?
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Change now or at annual? Hell no. Give them four or five hundred hours. Then buy Tempest.
 
Clark1961 said:
Change now or at annual? Hell no. Give them four or five hundred hours. Then buy Tempest.
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Wasn't sure how bad they really were. From the interwebz I was afraid of blowing up my mags.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Wasn't sure how bad they really were. From the interwebz I was afraid of blowing up my mags.
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IRAN the mags every 500 hours. Clean and test the plugs every 50 to 100 hours.

When a mag fails land at the nearest airport. Don’t try for the regional airport that might have services on a weekend even though it is IFR conditions. It’ll cost you a beer to hear the why of that.
 
I ohm tested my Champion fine wires at annual and found several which had high internal resistance. Contacted the company, they said send them back, and they replaced all 12 free of charge.

Can't beat that.
 
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