Thumper
Active Member
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Questions and answers on which plug wires fit, and best wire for the money. I've done a bit of research on cheap plug wires to moderately good plug wires that most of the of the community use, but not all available wires have been tested. If there are others available that someone wants to add in please do so in this information sharing discussion.
The wires I have on hand and tested are
Federated CH8654F 8mm carbon impregnated core cost app $20
Denso 671-6031 8mm carbon impregnated core cost app $50
Kirban Performance #1531 8mm spiral core cost app $65
Quad Air ( Red Armstrong ) 8mm spiral core Discontinued
Original used (22,000 miles) Turbo Regal 8mm ???????????
Highway Stars (nos4gn) repro 8mm carbon core $100
MSD super conductor, various mfg, 8.5mm spiral core $125
Starting with the Federal el cheapos, (NEW) there wires needed to be cut to proper length for equal testing as they were too long, after being cut and properly recrimped, the lengths and ohms new are:
#1 28.50" 15,500 ohms average of 5,400 ohm per foot
#2 22.00" 10,720
#3 20.75" 9,110
#4 20.50" 8,720
#5 22.00" 10,130
#6 25.00" 11,160
These wires have the HEI distributor style coil connector boot, and short spark plug boots that are hard to get a grip on to remove, therefor easy to pull wire out of boots.
Denso Wires, also needed to be cut to fit correctly, (NEW) they ended up at these lengths and ohms:
Out of box length Cut to fit length average of 4,100 ohm per foot
#1 32.00" #1 29.00 10,000 ohms
#2 27.75" #2 23.00 7,750
#3 24.00" #3 21.50 7,450
#4 27.75" #4 21.50 7,350
#5 24.00" #5 23.00 7,650
#6 27.75" #6 26.00 9,000
These wires have the HEI distributor style coil connector boot, and short spark plug boots in a dark brown color.
Kirbanperformance.com custom cut, high performance grey plug wire set, these come out of the box in correct lengths, and are a spiral core, low ohm wire.
#1 29.50" 716 ohm average of 300 ohm per foot (NEW)
#2 22.00" 544
#3 20.50" 507
#4 20.50" 506
#5 22.00" 540
#6 29.50" 711
Kirbans wires in grey, with black boots like the factory and a coil boot that matches the originals shape, it also comes with a longer spark plug boot that makes taking on and off much easier.
Quad Air, Red Armstrong made a couple versions, the set I have and tested are the "stock length" set that he sold years ago. Out of the box fit was ok as he made this version shorter than originals. These are no longer available but used for comparison. These wires are USED, only a few hundred miles on them.
Spiral core, low ohm wire.
#1 27.25" 1,629 ohms average of 500 ohm per foot (USED)
#2 20.50" 780
#3 19.00" 880
#4 20.50" 730
#5 20.50" 750
#6 23.50" 1,220
Reds wires in black with black boots, the coil boots like originals, and spark plug boots are similar length to originals, but different shape to enhance grip.
Original 22,000 miles used Turbo Regal plug wire data
#1 28.50" 7,820 ohms average of 3200 ohm per foot (USED)
#2 22.50" 6,700
#3 21.50" 5,680
#4 21.00" 5,500
#5 22.75" 5,820
#6 26.00" 6,700
Highway Stars ( nos4gn) has made (IMHO) a perfect concours replica wire set, correctly numbered and has the correct boots on both ends.
#1 28.50" 7,690 ohms average of 2700 ohms per foot (USED)
#2 22.00" 6,000
#3 20.75" 5,200
#4 20.50" 5,590
#5 22.00" 6,040
#6 24.75" 6,630
MSD super conductor, multiple assembly versions of this wire available. Made to fit many aftermarket builds, and original build style cars. These can come in red or black wires, and commonly the ends in grey, HEI style coil pack boots or a msd logo thick boot, spark plug boots are long, with high quality grey msd logo.
custom fit so lengths can very. the set tested was to fit the average turbo regal.
#1 29.25" 92 ohms average of 40 ohms per foot (NEW)
#2 22.00" 69
#3 22.50" 72
#4 21.00" 67
#5 24.50" 80
#6 25.75" 80
Nobody can tell you the right wire for your application, but for most high performance cars Kirbans wires are an excellent starting point, pull them out and put on car with no modifications and at $65 a set. The MSD are on many fast cars with excellent results but cost a little more ranging $100 and up. I"m sure there are many other options, these are the wires I own and tested. Just sharing my data.
Thanks
Bill
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