Notes on Plug wires....

Rogue Leader, I will be happy to pay the postage on those Magnecores if you are getting rid of them. :)
 
The real difference in spark plug wires is in the quality of manufacturing....it's an aggravation to grab the boot and leave the connector on the plug.
Click to expand...
That happens alot with the Magnacores....... Another big difference is how well they reduce electrical interference.
 
Hmm well now I am much more educated on Spark Plug wires... Im still going to install the MSD wires, But I think I'll save the Magnecors for the future, always good to have a spare set... Another thing with them is the boots are a bit lose, that was another reason I was changing them... they have been pulled off a few times and really didnt attach very well any longer.

Another thing with the magnecores... they say Magnecor KV85 on the wire but the angle boots have Accel 8.8 stamped into them??? weird huh?
 
$28.99

Originally posted by Rogue Leader
Hmm well now I am much more educated on Spark Plug wires... Im still going to install the MSD wires, But I think I'll save the Magnecors for the future, always good to have a spare set... Another thing with them is the boots are a bit lose, that was another reason I was changing them... they have been pulled off a few times and really didnt attach very well any longer.

Another thing with the magnecores... they say Magnecor KV85 on the wire but the angle boots have Accel 8.8 stamped into them??? weird huh?
Click to expand...
:eek:

BOSCH PREMIUM WIRE SET< Lifetime Guarantee
stainless steel mag winding
RFI absorbent sheilding
KEVLAR reinforced core
EPDM inner insulation
100% pure silicon jacket
OEM look
part # 09718 $28.99 @ autozone, 1-2 day order with no additional charge for store pick-up

ALL the whistles and bells for an UN-beatable price !!!
 
Who knows Steve. Maybe Im the unlucky one.....I also have the Jacobs and the only prob with them are that after time radio interferance occurs. I just return them and they send me a new set. (lifetime warranty) Performance was good however.
 
Not to stir the pot, but I went over the construction of both the MSD and Magnecor wires according to MSD's info on their wire construction, and Magnecor's. The only differences (the wires are basically the same) is that the Magnecore uses spiral wound stainless steel and completely silicone around the outside, while the MSD is spiral wound copper and has a dielectric insulator between the spiral and the outside silicone... both use the same type of ferromagnetic core.

Looking at that it sounds like Blackhawks Bosch wires are the same thing as Magnecors for muuuuuch cheaper!
 
Laz, I think Jacobs is the best warranty in the business. I used to use them on all my cars...

I did not think they were as robust but they never fail to honor the guarantee.

As I said in one of these threads, if you do have problems with a Magnecore, unless they have changed, they just dig in their heels and say it is not their fault. I have been lucky for a long time and my boots are still very tight.

Now, they may have changed design over the years.

I bought some of the Holley wires with the extra heat shielding on them. Harry had said he had very good luck with them at high rpms. 15 minutes after I installed them, the heat shielding came unglued and crawled up the wires....looked like glue gun glue...I still have a set on my elky. Kinda ugly because I worked the heat shields back down, tie wrapped, them in place and then backed them in the oven until all the sorry glue ran out. :)

People been buying $28 Autozone wires or Western Auto for years and changing them every year as long as I can remember. Ain't no hp in plug wires unless they break. :)
 
Jacobs has a good warranty, but I dont feel like replacing plug wires every month... and the Jacobs wires I had on my old 87 TA (and yes they were loomed properly, no they were not touching anything) managed to arc off everything in sight including eachother.... Then one day the car wouldnt start at all, no visible problems till i realized the coil wire had burnt itself BADLY... I called Jacobs and they blamed it on poor installation... I never got around to returning them I just bought a set of MSD 8.5's and never had a problem after that.
 
Well, I have tried Magnacores. Performance wise, I had no problems with them, the car ran great, and they fit OK. I ran into issues when I tried to remove them while working on stuff. I pullrd the wire off by the boot like I'm supposed to, while the engine was "overnight" cold, just like the instructions from them say. Actually it haden't run in weeks. As usual with my luck, the wire and boot came off while the terminal end stayed on the plug:mad: I figured it was a fluke and I'll send it back under warrenty. A few weeks later, The same thing happened again.:mad: :mad: That was it. I ordered a set of MSD wires and haven't looked back. They fit good, run fine, and stay as ONE piece when I work on my car.:cool:
 
Ohm test worthless....I think not....

I take your point that the real test of a plug wire is with real voltage. I learned something from this post :)

I had my SLS to the shop and on their scope system last week. Everything was fine according to the scope, but there was still a transient miss at idle when I got it home.

Long story short: Plugs improved it a bit. Plug new wires cured it. I checked the old plug wires with an ohm meter, and TWO, yes TWO of the wires had no continuity between the ends!!! :eek: The spark must have been jumping the the bad spots....

Ohm meter stays in my tool box, even with its limitations ;)
 
glad you found the problem! I don't think that anyone said an ohm test was not valid for finding bad wires, only that resistance of the wires is not a criteria as long as it was proportionate to the wire length between wires

zero ain't proportionate :D Sure glad you did not spend a bunch of unneeded money :)
 
This whole thread got me interested, so I just checked the resistance on the wires I got from Red Armstrong about 3 years back. All but one wire were at 750 - 850 ohms. One was 1200 ohms. I'm having an issue where spark gets blown out with the alky on at high boost levels. The plugs, module, and coil all check out fine. Could the difference in ohms on that one wire be the issue?
 
Ford specifies 5K ohms per foot or less...

...but I know for a fact that resistance that high will take out coils and eventually modules at an alarming rate if not repaired. I've used most of the brands mentioned, and MSD gets my vote as the best, and most durable, but the AZ Bosch wires are hard to beat for price, availability, and warranty. I would not run anything that isn't spiral core these days. :cool:
 
Originally posted by Rogue Leader
I am just removing a set of Magnecores from my TTA... supposedly really good wires, they are approximately 2 years old and only have about 4000 miles on them. They are being replaced with a set of MSD wires (btw for the MSD's to fit you have to cut the straight ends off two of em and replace with angle boots for the #2 and 4 cylinders by the downpipe, no big deal), MSD only makes a GN set not a TTA set thats why.

Testing the wires I see the following:

MSD Wires 55-65 Ohms Resistance
Magnecore Wires 350 Ohms Resistance :eek:

Anyone else have any wire experiences to share????






I came across this above quote by Rogue Leader while searching through the archives on plug wires & although I posted my own experience in another thread that I started, thought that I'd repost it here...
I just tested my factory GM plug wires & the meter I used is a Actron CP7672, digital meter(19.95 @Pep Boy's). The ohm settings I could choose from were 200, 2000, 20k, 200k & 2000k. I tried the 200 & 2000 settings first & got no reading, so went to the 20k setting & got these #'s...

All 6 wires tested between 4.30 & 6.80 which I've been told by salvagev6 is between 4300 & 6800 ohms on that 20k setting. Not sure what to make of those #'s.....are these wires up to par or should I be looking to buy new ones?


Thanks, The Darkside:cool:
Click to expand...
 
According to most factory spec your wires are marginal......

.... for a motor with stock specs. If you're making any more than OE cylinder pressure, you need better wires. :cool:
 
Just bought the Jacob's wires (#401290). They look to be very nice wires and are what the GNTTYPE.org have listed as a replacement for stock wires (non-GM parts section). Well, i'll still install them and give'm a go! Oh, by the way, Kirban's wires are also very good as they look identical to the factory wire in both build quality and appearance and they have the proper boots. I have yet to break one pulling it off spark plug. I bought the Jacob's just to try something new, plus i like the blue color.
 
Steve,

Unfortunatly, Jacobs has been bought out by Mr Gasket & the warrenty on new sets is now only a year. I don't know if Mr Gasket will honor the Jacobs lifetime warrenty

I am now using one of their ceramic sets & they seem to work ok. I also bought the 8 cyl set to get 2 spares.

Roger
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Thumper
Plug wire discussions Which ones to buy?
2 3
Replies
54
Views
8K
dynoman
dynoman
T
MSD 8.5 Spark Plug wire set Black
Replies
7
Views
340
turbo89
T
W
Selling Out -- Mixed Bag of New Hi Perf & Race Parts
Replies
2
Views
633
Wayne Scraba
W
T
3 Bolt Gee M Racing Headers
2
Replies
21
Views
6K
marleyskater420
M
TType85
1986 T-Type - Light Chestnut Brown - So California
Replies
9
Views
3K
TType85
TType85
Top