How Does the Spacing Look on My Plug Wires

[Bob Chadwick]

As part of the saga of the intermittent miss I've taken a look at the routing of my plug wires. Does this appear to have adequate spacing? Also, which are the two plug wires you need to be really concerned about?

Passenger's Side

Driver's Side

I like those little wire seperators I got from Summit. I may have to get some more.

 

[Ken]

Numbers five and seven are the two that fire simultaneously; those two should be the major concern, but unless you've got really old or cut wires they usually don't give you much of a problem. I see no other problems with your setup Bob. :cool

 

[photovette]

Could you please describe the 'miss' again?

 

[wishuwerehere82]

Gee Bob, they look real nice! Are those 8MM MSD Helicore wires? That's what I have on mine.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Could you please describe the 'miss' again?

Do I sense a little sarcasm here Photovette? It's been kind of on my mind a little lately as I try to tie it down so I can take the car to Paintdaddy and get it back in time for the Bowling Green trip.

Numbers five and seven are the two that fire simultaneously; those two should be the major concern, but unless you've got really old or cut wires they usually don't give you much of a problem. I see no other problems with your setup Bob. :cool

Thanks Ken.

Gee Bob, they look real nice! Are those 8MM MSD Helicore wires? That's what I have on mine.

That's them. JohnZ had posted good things about them so I went with them. Easy to install and so much cleaner than the stock routing.

 

[photovette]

No sarcasm intended; what me?! No, I did the same thing you did in trying to track down a high speed misfire and it turned out to be the u-joint closest to the transmission going bad. The search wasn't a total loss, I do have a nice new distributor and plug wires to show for it--I used the same wire separators you used--arn't they cool! Though, it surely was a PITA to put the universal plug wires sets together, at least I found it to be--I probably was doing something wrong...

 

[81 Corvette]

where did that motor come from? its got a weird cyclander order

just kidding, looks purty

 

[vigman]

Firing order

I hope the number on your wires are some other numbering sequence than what plugs they actually are.. 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 is the correct firing order .... looks like you go 1-8..I ALWAYS mark the wire to the cylinder.. and I've messed up the firing order more than once..DUH. The other thing to consider is do you.. did you have any chafing rubs on the wires or burn marks? Have you measured the resistance of the wires? Are the plugs TIGHT in the holes? Did you use any anti seize compound on the plugs? Is maybe one insulator on the plugs cracked.. or the boot not seated ( a few times I have had the connection not seat correctly and push the connector back up into the boot..

Look under the hood at night ( engine running ) and see if you see a light show with a SNAP-SNAP-SNAP as the faulty wire arc's somplace else.

Just some thoughts

Vig~

 

[Bob Chadwick]

I know, I know. I could have written the cylinder number on the top of each plug but it was so much easier just to write the order they went in.

Brand new wires. Perfect condition. Had the same problem with the old wires.

I didn't check the resistance. What should it be?

Checked for arcing. None.

Photovette, I see were you have two four wire holders on the one side. Mine came in a pack of 2 each of 2, 3 & 4 wire holders that I used one each on each side of the car. Were you able to mix and match or do you have a couple of sets?

The universal wire set wasn't too bad. I bought a small drill press vice which let me route the wire on the car for measurement and press the ends on without having to remove the wire.

The 7 and 5 wire, while not touching are close together. I have an extra wire and I may redo the #7 with a little extra wire that would force it to pop up a little more over the #5.

 

[Ken]

You could always do what I did, Bob ...

​

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Don't tempt me Ken. :L

 

[photovette]

I bought two sets--so I could run them any way I wanted--and what I wanted is to keep them well away from the rams' horn manifolds. Yeah, I knew there was a smart way to make up the wires!

I almost got me a free C6 today--I was taking Nova to a reading for a lead role in a new TV sitcom when a C6 pulled up next to us in the parking lot. The driver offered his C6 for Nova. If he hadn't wanted my C3 too, it would have been deal city! She did get the role and will film 8 episodes starting in mid February. Now, if they can only sell the series, I'll be able to buy my own C6 (OR MAYBE C2!) with my 10%!

 

[Ken]

I bought two sets--so I could run them any way I wanted--and what I wanted is to keep them well away from the rams' horn manifolds. Yeah, I knew there was a smart way to make up the wires!

It's even smarter (read: cheaper) to buy bulk wire and cut your own to length. The boots and terminals are also available as separate items.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Ken, Where do you get the bulk wire, boots and terminals? And do they sell the MSD Helicore wires? The best I could find was generic kits that you cut to fit that came with the boot and you added the coil side.

Photovette, these little puppies are pretty nice as well and do a good job keeping the wires from the plugs.

Bob

 

[Ken]

Where do you get the bulk wire, boots and terminals? And do they sell the MSD Helicore wires?

Well, if you're using MSD, then go to the source: MSD of course! :L

Heli-Core, 300 ft., PN 3405

If you want wire without any terminals attached: Taylor-Vertex sells spools of wire:

Taylor-Vertex is the major supplier to most of the spark plug wire manufacturers, maybe even MSD. ​

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Ken,

You are "da-man" when it comes to finding this stuff. I could not find the bulk wire to save my life when I was looking for it.

Thanks.

Bob

 

[Ken]

Most places don't want to sell it because they won't make as much money. That's why you can't find it at MSD. They want to sell you wire with the terminals because it gives them a chance to mark the price up a little more.

 

[photovette]

Those little puppies are great, but they won't work with the ram's horns--the manifold goes higher up the valve covers. I wanted'em...

 

[Ken]

Ya know, every time I look at mine I'm still not satisfied. I took the easy way out, obviously, by running my wires right over my plenum because I had room (Most C4s of my vintage don't have the room between the plenum and hood.) and I was running two coil packs, which put me in an altogether different place to start with.

Now I'm thinking that if I buy a spool of bulk wire, then I can run the wires on a 90° boot off the coil packs and run the wires behind the intake, in the cases where they have to cross the engine (#1 & #5 and #2 & #8). It would certainly clean up the upper part of the engine, but it would also make it more difficult to keep track of the sequence or order of the wires.

But then again, I'd lose that "racecar" look. :L

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Those little puppies are great, but they won't work with the ram's horns--the manifold goes higher up the valve covers. I wanted'em...

I have good news for you. The come with little spacers that raise them up so they will fit over the top of the ram horn.