It was all the rage in the 60's Transparent red spark plug wires and fuel lines. I was sure Speedway still sold the stuff but I cant find it in their latest catalog. Where can I get the stuff? Does anyone make full spark plug wire sets or is it sold by the foot only? Somebody here must know...... Any leads appreciated Thanks.
Tell ya what Bro- The fuel lines discolor and get brittle quickly- keep a close eye on them- its even worse on a hoodless car. I know the wires look cool but I don't think they're worth a shit either. I've had problems with both on more than one car.
Yep, Probably what burned the Ala Kart... combined with an electric fuel pump feeding it. A car caught fire when the red plastic fuel line broke on one of the Ranch Runs a few years ago. Luckily it happened right i front of a local who was sitting on his porch with a fire extinguisher handy or it would have been one Crispy Chevy. Saw a how-to in a mag a few years ago about putting some of the red plastic stuff over polished stainless steel hard line so it just looks like a fire hazard and isn't really one. I give it the same cringe factor as the motorcycle with the razor blades welded all over it... It's just too dangerous to look good... Sorta like a pet scorpion?
Thank you. Since Duane is a bigger "Goober" than the original, I thought it only fitting to give him the proper recognition.
Ask anyone who used (note, past tense) CLEAR SPARK PLUG WIRE (any color) inside wire looms, (flatheads most often) about the "cross fire", "mis-fire", and shorts they experienced; and you WILL NOT use it! The fuel lines are crap too.
while on the subject of clear components, anyone have an opinion on clear distributor caps or spark plugs? at night and with the clear wires, cap and plugs you could put on quite a show under your clear hood!
In high school I had a clear distributor cap on my '65 bug. Looked bitchin at night and never had any problems.
I ran red fuel lines and plug wires on my (hoodless) tub for about 4 years. The only problem I had was when one of the plug wires laid against the laker pipe and melted it. Yes, the fuel lines (tri-power setup) did discolor some but not bad. Is there different qualities of this stuff? Also, I used little black plastic looms and not metal. Maybe I was just lucky.
I had red lines on my 3x2 setup. they looked great for a year then started to turn orange and I noticed some hairline fracture looking things. went to old fashioned black and never went back. did look cool though and it's cheap enough that if you replaced it once a year no harm no foul.
The red wires are solid core copper & are very good!! no resisitance in them.Also it interfers with Yuppies cell phones & car radios!! another bennie.as far as the clear caps go, do i have a story for you!!lol 2 yrs ago i had one on my t bucket with stock points, looked cool, ran great, no problems, till!!! I install a "crane" trigger ignition, I went up to the summer Nationals in Worcester, ma, we left early in the morning and it was running great. We stopped at a diner, ate & when i drove away it ran terrible!! I'd get on a side street with trees & it was running " good, shitty, good, shitty!!" then i realized that when i was in the shade it ran good, in the sun it broke up!! Lol, i threw a shop rag over the distributor & And drove it home that afternoon.!! took the cap off & now i have a regular old "normal" one on it!!lol JimV
I saw that Moon was selling a newer type of red fuel line at Paso. It was not the old type stuff. I have the old school type and it discolored in a week. Don't bother buying it. The new stuff I saw from Moon is thicker and has cross threads running through the hose, like modern fuel hose. It seemed like it may look a little street roddish if it was on a car. If you want to run a radio in your car I would not recommend solid core wire, unless you like hearing the revs come through your speakers at a high pitch. Mike
Have run the red wires in stainless looms for 3 years with no problem. As a sideline NSRA will not allow the red plastic fuel lines on any inspection. I think I agree, at least on a flathead, as the headers get pretty hot as to not using the red fuel lines.
I tried the clear red fuel line when I put the two dueces on my flathead about 5 years ago. The stuff turned to a dull orange in a week. After 2 months it began to feel all sticky, like gummy worms left in the sun. That's when I decided to go to regular black fuel line. That was 5 years ago, maybe the stuff available now is better?
I ran the red wires for a while on my flathead six. I also had the rajah tips. It ran great for part of the time, but then started to miss and run crappy. I switched to over the counter wires and it runs perfectly. Not sure if it was the rajah tips or the wires... I bought a second set of the over the counter wires and put the rajah tips on them, but haven't installed them back in the car yet. They look great, but man do they bite if you get too close to them when it's running! Pete
I'm laughing as I'm reading this !! I do thank you all for the input. I'd heard about how crappy both the fuel lines and the wires are, but I'm sold on the look. It got me to thinking about how nuts we all are. Some of us would never run that goddam red fuel line, but we'll run without front brakes and seatbelts. And if you run your hand across our cars you could get tetanus, but if a wire arcs its a terrible deal. I'm not critisizing anyone here I just think its kinda funny what we will accept on our rods or not. I have an old Hurst Indy shifter with no lockouts, but its authentic and vintage. I'll probably keep it until I run into someone by starting my car in reverse.
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