DIY spark plug wires

Musturd · Jun 13, 2012

I'm with Paul on that, mainly because I love new tools. That's so cool you have ur own powder coating materials mad jealous

ttocs · Jun 13, 2012

well the ford racing wires were gonna end up about an inch short of what I needed. Ended up going with a mallory set from summit that had longer cables and all the ends included(male/female) for $52. The MSD crimper looked nice but the accel 17036 came with a few more dies and the others are cheaper then the msd.

Had to laugh a bit as I called summit finally to get help on lengths, ends, ect. The guy got on said he could help and lets get down to the most important part, what color wire?

Hey paul do you cover/wipe off the names on your tools too while grumbling "I don't need to advertise what tools I use"? Just curious

ttocs · Jun 18, 2012

somebody please tell me how I ended up buying spark plug wires, with no wire in them? There is the black insulation on the outside, a thicker white core inside of it. Inside the white core is another thinner black insulation where the wire is supposed to be but inside of it is nothing but fiberglass fibers...... I thought maybe I pulled the copper off when I stripped the smaller black insulation inside but after taking an exacto knife and cutting the wires down the middle 3-4" they are all the same - just really well insulated wrope....... Called summit and told them and I had to buy a 2nd set and return this set rather then them waiting to get my set and mail the replacement. I have seen the fibers before wrapped around smaller wires(I am an electronice tech) to take the stress of being pulled rather then the wire but its just like they forgot the copper all together....

sucks as I painted the dist cap and coil from msd red to black and they look alot better but, now I gotta wait a couple of days.

g36 monkey · Jun 18, 2012

That's freakin crazy!

ttocs · Jun 18, 2012

checked a few of the others and none of them have wire in them, just well insulated rope...

RichV · Jun 18, 2012

somebody please tell me how I ended up buying spark plug wires, with no wire in them?

I just shot beer out of my nose. OMG that's hillarious. Did you get the 2nd set?

They should be called "Spark Plug Well Insulated Ropes". Just busting your chops...

ttocs · Jun 19, 2012

being this was the first time I had done plug wires, I thought that it had to be something I fugged up right? But again I have spent most of my adult careers working around wires as a tech in some sort of fashon so it just didn't make any sence to me. I had to tell the guy at summit to tell me if I was doing something really stupid that I should know better but unless this was some kind of new super-conducting wrope the internal resistance of thise wire was going to be MUCH higher then they advertised.

2nd set was shipped out today. Its possible it could make it by tomorrow but more then likely wed. Lets just hope those wires, have wire in them as I can only imagine that they got a bad spool of wire and there had to be more then one set that came out like this.

Locomoco · Jun 19, 2012

Looks nice and clean

RichV · Jun 19, 2012

OK, you do know that plug wires are not actualy 'wires' in the sence of copper core. Spark plug wires are ferro-core, they transmit 40,000+ volts but no current. If they were traditional wire arching would be a huge issue, not to mention disruption of anything electronic in the car. A few race only wires have an actual wire core, but they are not for street use due to the electronic disruption they cause.

I just got the MSD Universal set for my 94. I'll be doing the assembly tomorrow, it actualy came with a crimp/cut tool. Haven't done this in a long time.

ttocs · Jun 19, 2012

well then mr wizard thanks for your technical info because these would then fit your description as well as there is no copper core in these either....................

g36 monkey · Jun 19, 2012

That's really odd. If you check the ohms is there resistance from end to end?

ttocs · Jun 19, 2012

I have not tried since there isn't anything conductive inside of all that insulation. The rope fibers are just there to hopefully take an tension from being pulled on to save the conductor its supposed to be next too.

ttocs · Jun 21, 2012

so the 2nd set showed up and of course I took out my exacto knife and cut the end in half to find............. THE EXACT SAME THING. This had me wondering if the black core really was conductive and it wasn't until that point that I noticed the writting on the wires said "resistive core wire" and I started to wonder if I had been that stupid. I took out my ohm meter and stapped the core and found that it wasn't conductive, read an an open circuit just as if I was holding the tips apart. So then I took the probes out of the center and then stabbed it between the white part and the black center and was amazed to see that it showed it was conducting. Well hell at that point I figured I would go ahead and put them on and see what happens. If they didn't work I would know for sure and be pissed about the time wasted but otherwise if it did I was just confused that the 2nd tech I talked too at summit didn't know either? So after a couple of hours of pulling the old wires out(and finding more then a few points that were rubbing through and could have been problems) and runnin the new wires I turned the key. Not sure if I was happy er sad to see that it cranked over and actually idled much much better then it had in a long time. For some time now it has always been a little rough idling until it got up to temp but this time it cranked over and held steady at 800 rpms perfectly. After cleaning everything up, putting the top on the dist to hold down the wires as well as the wire isolators I got and painted to match I am really happy with how it looks. I was never happy with the MSD red on the coil/dist cap so I painted it with a textured black paint. The writting on the plug wires for some reason just looked cheap to me and there was this strange old-dudes voice grumbling in the back of my head about it. Not sure but I think it was paul manifesting himself in my head to make me take some brake cleaner and wipe them off - so I did. Before I had blue wires, red dist cap/coil and none of it matched anything. With everything black it cleans it up alot - thanks paul but please don't hang around in my head(for your own good as well as mine).

I will get pics in a little while. I am actually avoiding a neighbor of mine that is moving. A couple of days ago I was working in my garage with my headphones on when I heard my neighbor trying to get my attention. I took an earphone out and she said something about some bags of salt she had. I thought she was asking me to help her carry them in her house(like a big bag of rock salt for a water softener) as they are older and retired and I have helped them carry things from time to time. I got over there and she directed me to two 20 lb bags on the side of the garage so I picked them up and then said I would follow here to where she wanted them. She said no they didn't need them and I could have them. Turns out its roadsalt to melt ice and they are about to put the house for sale and move to texas. At that point holding the two bags of ice(40 lbs worth) in July(94 degrees) I was not sure what to say so I just said thanks and made my way back to my house with them(now on the side of my garage). Today I was out there in the am to take advantage of the cool weather and shortly after I noticed her garage comming up. I always have my headphones on and its not uncommon I don't notice the neighbors comming/going(or rather want to notice) so I just kept my head under the hood to finish the last 3 wires. I had just barely got the first wire done when she was suddenly behind me holding a snow shovel and a 15 lb sledge. Oh, great(act excited!)? I would rather bribe the neighbors kids to do it for a $5 but maybe they will do it for a free shovel this year. I have a sledge somewhere already - just not sure since I never use it. I went in a few mins later and figured the heat would chase them in. No they stayed there till 2pm cleaning the garage and now there is a pile of trash by the dumpster as well as another smaller pile up by their garage that I am sure they will ask me about. Might be some good stuff, dunno yet but otherwise if you need a snow shovel or sledge hit me up.....

ttocs · Jun 21, 2012

picture pages picture pages lotsa fun with.... I went ahead and sprung for the nice wire isolators and painted the center the same black texture as the rest of the pieces. I like em, kinda like the cherry on top. Can't wait to put the new intake on top, still not sure if I should go satin-finish or polished.

After years of installing I am ocd about wires that I run. I got a wire loom to mount them all into and keep it organized and clear of hot parts.

much better then the red dist cap and the blue wires. Now I am considering swaping out the red/blue fuel connections as well though.... Any opinions on satin or polished on the new intake?

RichV · Jun 22, 2012

Nice job, they look good. I agree on the AN fittings, go black on those as well.

ttocs · Jun 22, 2012

and gonna paint the fuel pressure sensor black as well. Funny how bad things stick out now....

Anyone want to upgrade their fuel lines? Make an offer on mine, already finished and cut to length.

Paul · Jun 22, 2012

I wish I would've seen this post earlier, I would have told you that spark plug wires look like that and nothing is wrong. Glad you got everything all done. I like the zip tie method better than the big plug wire separators, but different strokes for different folks.

Pretty easy right? I actually like doing plug wires.

I'm glad I'm stuck in your head, haunting people and making them batshit crazy like me is fun. I'm only marginally old though - I'm 31.

Paul.