Sparkplug wire questions

[38plymouth]

I'm not sure how it happened but my spark plug wires that are only a few years old are falling apart inside where they Snap-on to the spark plug. The little clips that lock in place are breaking and falling out. I just picked up a new set from Tractor Supply and they are the universal type so I have to put on the end that goes into the distributor. The directions just say I need to lock the brass end onto the bare wire. I don't see how on earth that's going to make a contact with the wire in side, the only time I ever built wires before I was supposed to strip back the insulation to get to the bare wire and fold it over and then crimp on the end. Am I missing something with these wires or should I do it that way again?

[Plymouthy Adams]

the clip should have two little chisel points that cut through the insulation and contact the inner conductor...if this is not the case, return them and spend the money for a better set

[Ajgkirkwood]

Could possibly look for 318/360 wires. The lengths are pretty close

[38plymouth]

There are 2 little points, are they supposed to pierce all the way to the center core WIRE? There is no way that the points are long enough to do that they will probably just go past the black outer skin.

I got these wires because I have to have one end off of them in order to fit them through the metal wire loom on the engine. I don't want to go with the set of pre-made wires because that I won't be able to use that anymore.

[38plymouth]

Well it looks like they do just crimp on and you don't have to strip any of the wire back. They seem to work just like they are.

[Andydodge]

I used to strip about 1/2" of the plug insulation etc off so that I had a piece of the silicon core wire and folded it back over the end then pushed the clip into the end of the plug lead and wire then use a pair of pliers to press the sides of the clip into the lead...........does this make sense, also go thru all the clips and make sure the little spikes that are on each side are straight and will hold into the plug lead sides............andyd 

[Niel Hoback]

Andy, that's exactly how I use them. Guaranteed center wire to brass tip positive contact.

[Andydodge]

Neil good to see that i wasn't the only person doing battle with these things yrs ago............lol...............andyd

[johnsartain]

I always did as Andy and Neil said and stripped them back a bit. I noticed on some of the wires that came with my trucks bucket of parts, the wires were metal core and were soldered to the brass clip. The ones I got from tractor supply were metal wire core as well and the brass tips hat a hole in the center I haven't bothered to solder them but I did strip them back and let them poke through the hole folding the excess wire back. 

I don't have a radio at this point but when I do I will probable go for a silicon core wire. I may even have to add the noise filter to the generator.

[Plymouthy Adams]

best noise filter for any AM/FM radio is the off button....lol

[johnsartain]

I'm more of a talk radio fan than music anymore. Since moving to southern Arizona, my only choices are pop, rap, mariachi, and spanish language. Even though my Spanish has improved, they still speak to fast to understand. Outside of that it will be a new model radio to connect my phone through and play MP3's.

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by johnsartain

[Plymouthy Adams]

9 minutes ago, johnsartain said:

I'm more of a talk radio fan than music anymore. Since moving to southern Arizona, my only choices are pop, rap, mariachi, and spanish language. Even though my Spanish has improved, they still speak to fast to understand. Outside of that it will be a new model radio to connect my phone through and play MP3's.

 

Now you talking music, sounds like you would enjoy Sirus radio.....I like it but am not on the road as much as before so have not spent the coin on the receiver or subscription.  My 48 bz cp is set up for any and all type of media player inputs and 4 aux output amps if so desired, dash display with remote mounted unit in the trunk....I like the fact that a thumb drive is set up to function just as a 10 disc CD player with 99 songs per disc allocation.  

[johnsartain]

I have a receiver from a while back, I may get it activated again on one of the $25 for 6 month deals. I had one in dash with my Tahoe but wound up selling the Tahoe. Never name your price unless you are truly willing to take it. I should have made the price higher.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I just got back a car I built some 33 years ago and later sold, had not seen the car for 28 years....it was the only one car I sold that I truly regretted selling.  I count it a miracle I found it on Craigslist and within 6 hours of it being listed.  Was but a 5 hour trip one way for the retrieval.

I receiver is not that expensive and would get a stand alone that I could take from car to car.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Plymouthy Adams

[Niel Hoback]

   Wow, if that happened to me, I don't know what I would do!  Yes I do, I'd be the proud owner of a 1930 Chrysler 6.

[50s-coronet]

Let me connect to the discussion above about the ignition cables. I purchased the same as mentioned above, it seems. 

However the connection to the spark plug does not have insulation and the vendor says that this was common practice for cars of the 1950s.

Is that true? And is there no hazard from un-insulated spark plug connections? Any experiences or recommendations?

Never seen something like this before but however...

By the way: I also had trouble with the brass connector!

[bluefoxamazone]

did anyone ever use these "ever dry" hoods on the sparkplug....?

[busycoupe]

My car had ever dry spark plug covers on it when I bought it.  I replaced the plugs and wires soon after I bought the car and did not replace the ever dry units because they sew installed under the plugs instead of the compression washer.  I thought that it would be better to have a compression washer sealing the plug.  So far I have not had a problem with wet plugs, but my car is garaged and seldom is exposed to extremely wet conditions.  

 

Here is another ignition wire question:  Did our cars come with cloth covered plug wires?  I like the look of them and are considering putting on a set.  Just wondering, were they original equipment or had the industry changed over to black rubber wires by 1946-48?  The wiring harness is cloth covered, what about plug wires?

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

All my Chrysler came with them on the eights as factory equipment....

[49D-24BusCpe]

Hi BusyCoupe,

    Our D-24 cars came equipped with black cloth braided lacquer coated ignition wires.

Walt

 

    Below is a '46 Dodge engine compartment factory photograph;

 

 

[busycoupe]

Thanks Walt, one picture is worth a thousand words.  It is hard to tell, but it looks like the plug wires in the picture are black lacquered cloth covered as you said that yours was.  Some of the other details in the picture are interesting also.