Cockney Steve,
I was not going to contribute to this thread any longer since it turned into a P***ing match between Yr Right, Creampuff and Jaba but your accusations that I am on a retainer have forced me to respond.
1) I am not and will never be on a retainer to promote any particular aviation product without declaring it first. I will happily fit spark-plugs of any approved brand. the only company that has ever asked me to promote their product to my customers (tempest oil filters) were refused.
2)I am not supporting one brand of plugs, I am supporting testing Tempest plugs to tempest specs and leaving champion ones alone since champion say the test is not accurate for their plugs PERIOD.
3)I do not support Yr Right's stance on LOP: LOP is not a problem when done by the right people with the right equipment. Unfortunately most of the pilot community do not fit into that field. Thus we teach new pilots to fly ROP and the right ones get motivated and go to Jaba's course to learn LOP.
4)And this is where I do that aussie "Spade is a Spade" thing. Cockney: Your post regarding sparkplugs on cars 40 years ago and the installation of early carbon pile resistors has as much relevance to this debate on testing the resistance of modern aircraft plugs as the you tube video on cats I just watched on the other tab. And your Source "a European aviator online" doesn't stand much credibility especially since failure to start has never been a symptom of high resistance from champion plugs. The most likely source of his fail to start was the high speed of the new starter bypassing the impulse coupling in the magneto - common on 0-200 engines and other small low compression jobs.
If champion really just a bunch of jokers out to sell plugs then they would have been the FIRST to accept a need for resistor testing.
5) Lead Sled: I cannot agree more that this disinformation starts at TAFE and is backed up on the hangar floor. i have dedicated a good part of my career to studying and to be at the top of my trade and am now working part time to put that knowledge back into the education system but there is a long way to go to make it right.
As for your governor over speed with no repairs required: Assuming your engine was rated to 2575 RPM then your LAME is one of those who needs some education: More than 10% overspeed = bulk strip.
http://www.lycoming.com/Portals/0/te...0Overspeed.pdf
I have done a few inspections on overspeeded 540's from robbo's and they are often not pretty inside.
Thats my last two cents.