Spark Plug Wires

[pdq67]

I guess it must be like the early 'Vette FI engine's 440 SS wire's with stock SS braided coverings and matching dizzy "dog-house" all grounded because they stopped RF and still ran like a "raped ape", imho.

Just don't get it is all here??

pdq67

[PFC1]

Keep in mind that stainless is NOT a great conductor.

Bret

[David Redszus]

Over the years, I have found that fine wire multistrand copper wires to be the best. A large number of small gauge wires make the cable more flexible. But it still acts as a broadcast antenna. Belden makes an excellent product that can be purchased in bulk at any NAPA store.

Now find some very high quality, resistor type connectors to the distributor and to the spark plug. The spark plug connectors I used are either Bosch or Beru and are completely metal shielded.

Next, I cover the wire with a stranded copper sheath, commonly used as a soldering wick. Then the sheath is grounded to either a metal spark plug connector or to some other engine ground.

RFI is easy to find. Simply hold an oscilloscope probe near the wires of a running engine. Or shut the lights of in the dyno cell and watch the light show.

[R.Olds]

FWIW, I had 2 engines on the dyno the other day, and after reading this thread it got me wondering because I have used a lot of the 8mm Taylor wires. Both engines were pump gas, one was a 347 that made 489 HP and the other was a 408 that made 640 HP.
While testing both engines, I switched from the taylor wires to a set of 8.5 MSD wires I bought.....on both of these engines there was 0 gain between the wires.
Just thought I would pass that on....if anyone wants to know.

Rick

[Mattax]

Reading each of the posts in sequence, one could deduce that the problem was not with all Taylor brand wires, but with Taylor's solid core wires used on an application with an ECU or other electronics. Sure you got points ignition, have a blast.

I don't have a scope (yet), but I think there could be RFI even if you don't see glow around the wires at night. It's my understanding that the latter is a characteristic of insufficient or compromised insulation.

If you want to see some resistance comparisons of various spark plug wires, click on my website and go to the ignition wires page. It's simply resistance at ambient temp. After the first sets, I got smarter and wrote down the lengths to derive the resistence per inch. The biggest resistance issue with new wires seems to be the quality of the crimping. Obviously there are other factors in deciding which wires are best for any application. I switched from the Taylor Spiro-pro to the MSD with gray spark plug boots only for the possible better high temperature durability.

[rfoll]

I just replaced the MSD wires on my race car because they had been used on the car for 8 years. Engines in and out, distributor in and out, wires off to set valve lash, many many times. Replaced them with the same product, no changes in performance. I would hve to call that a durable product.

[Dick Gazan]

I usually specify MSD wires but one customer brought his setup in for his 406SB and at the dyno it was 40HP shy. Nothing I did helped. We started late afternoon and took a break and started again when the sun started to go down and what a sight, the whole motor just glowed. Taylor wires, Rather than going all the way to my shop I went to a Pep Boys just down the street and bought their "premium" bolt on set of resistor wires, bingo right back up to 660HP. Left the motor on the dyno and went home and the next day brought my own dist with MSD wires and no change. Go figure.........

Dick Gazan

[Dodge Freak]

I usually specify MSD wires but one customer brought his setup in for his 406SB and at the dyno it was 40HP shy. Nothing I did helped. We started late afternoon and took a break and started again when the sun started to go down and what a sight, the whole motor just glowed. Taylor wires, Rather than going all the way to my shop I went to a Pep Boys just down the street and bought their "premium" bolt on set of resistor wires, bingo right back up to 660HP. Left the motor on the dyno and went home and the next day brought my own dist with MSD wires and no change. Go figure.........

Dick Gazan

Those resistor wires don't last too long where the MSD are made for hp set ups

[mike walsh]

FWIW, I had 2 engines on the dyno the other day, and after reading this thread it got me wondering because I have used a lot of the 8mm Taylor wires. Both engines were pump gas, one was a 347 that made 489 HP and the other was a 408 that made 640 HP.
While testing both engines, I switched from the taylor wires to a set of 8.5 MSD wires I bought.....on both of these engines there was 0 gain between the wires.
Just thought I would pass that on....if anyone wants to know.

Rick

In my opinion you have something else far more wrong than the Taylor wires!!!
I have tried about a half dozen times to tune a motor in on Taylor wires and it's always a wash. First the jets look lean, then rich, and the idle seems choppier, plus you get an automatic rev limiter.
Dump the Taylors altogether or run only them, then come at us with "no difference," cause i am SURE you will find it!
Nothing personal just didn't appreciate spending my time to figure out I am dealing with an inferior product!

[Pinhead]

From an article written by David Vizard on GoFastNews.com,

To burn the charge of air and fuel as effectively as possible means delivering as much energy to the plug as possible up to the point of overkill. The question here is what is totally sufficient and where does overkill start? I have done a lot of ignition testing in my time and in almost every instance it seems that a bigger, fatter more aggressive spark produces better ignition. Sure I have come across some notable exceptions here. Two that come to mind are the ‘A’ Series Mini engine that powered the original Mini Cooper and the big block Chevy with a certain type of factory head (casting number escapes me for the moment but if you are into real high performance you are unlikely to use them). In both these instances I found that at first the combustion got better as the spark got better but after a point not that far up the scale in terms of spark technology and delivery all gains topped out. On the Mini engine it seemed that once we had a good strong spark that even lightening bolts would show no improvement. On the particular engine involved we went all the way to about 21/1 fuel air ratio’s before any sign of a lean misfire was experienced. But that’s not the norm it would seem – especially for the modern multi valve engines with limited mixture motion and a centrally located spark plug.