Technical Looking for feedback on on clear red spark plug wires

Anyone out there run or have ran these speedway clear red solid core spark plug wires and rajah ends on their cars? Are they any good? Bad? They look cool. I plan on running them on my 49 Merc with a flatty. I'm currently running a Mallory dual point distributor. Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks

 

Fwiw, I ran the Mooneyes cut-em-to-fit red wires, on my seventies Yamaha xs650. Had no probs with them Can't imagine the speedway ones being too different.

 

They should work with the relatively low compression ratio of a flathead. I would tighten up the plug gaps to .025 - .030" to make their job easier.
I do not think they would last many thousands of miles before breaking down though. That's OK for most hot rods that don't rack up lots of miles.

 

I'm using them on my car but I read somewhere that they shouldn't be used with electronic ignition. I have points with an early sixties transistor setup. Probably be a while before I know how well it works out.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! Sounds like a winner to me!

 

In the old days everybody got tv and am radio over the air, and solid wires would screw up the radio waves. Now, most folks have cable or satellite, so it shouldn't be as big a problem.

 

Hahhahaha!!! Damn! I was hoping to piss off my neighbors some more!

 

I always loved the clear/color look,both plug wires an gas lines,but I also replace with new as soon as they start to show age< they get stiff an discolor some,that's when they need to be replace if not a little sooner. Always rowt so no contact with hot!

When hunting to buy"Words for hunt should be" "Translucent spark plug wire" you can add the color in hunt as well. Hunt for Clear red plug,dose not seem to find.

 

Why am I not surprised? LOL!!!!

 

If you run solid core plug wires use a resistance type coil wire to prevent radio and TV interference. Or add a suppression condenser to the coil.

 

What difference does electronic ignition make? Does it interfere with the modules? Once the voltage leaves the coil, does it know what type of wire it's going down?

 

An electronic ignition itself is more sensitive to interference. Emissions from the high voltage side can cause false triggering on the input (hall sensor, optical sensor etc.) side, as well as cause problems for any other electronics in the vicinity. On top of that, as they usually produce stronger sparks than points ignitions they most likely cause more interference than points ignitions.

 

Aren't spark plugs part of noise suppression too? I was wondering if it's actually necessary or desirable to run both resistance plug wires and resistance spark plugs. Ignition stuff can get complicated.

 

Higher secondary ignition voltages can be more prone to arcing or misfire to ground, inside the distributor cap, or blowing past vintage dielectric materials (bakelite). If the wiring insulation is old or inadequate, if there's a defect, electricity will always find an easier path to ground.

Remember for example points type ignitions were rated for a potential secondary voltage of maybe 20k volts. It isn't so much the "electronic" part of the ignition that can cause this, the hall effect modules are just an electronic switch that performs the same function as the points did.

But there are higher primary input voltages associated with the higher output ignition coils, greater turns ratio, and the arc welder coils mean the potential for the juice to travel somewhere other than the spark plug gap is increased. Notice when HEI came on to the scene and replaced points & condenser the distributor cap diameter - the terminal spacing - increased greatly. It's like trying to stuff 20 pounds of stuff in a 10 pound bag at times.

 

I have 7 of 'em..

 

Great stuff! I'm getting educated big time!

 

Try just the plugs, if you get radio interference add a resistance wire to the coil. I have done this on old cars that came with solid plug wires and it cured a radio interference problem. Some old cars came with an extra condenser on the coil for this purpose, and some had a condenser on the generator too.

 

Spark plug gap has a big effect on the voltage required, HEI ignition called for much larger plug gaps to fire lean mixtures for emissions control. If you have normal plugs and plug gaps you won't have so much chance of ignition breakdown.

 

I guess that explains this......

 

Yes that is what one looks like.

 

I’m running them with vintage cal custom rajah ends on my Caddy. 10:1 Compression, there is a pertronix hidden in the dist (spliced cloth wires onto it).

Runs like a pissed off hippo for years. No issues.

 

You guys back in the mid west and east march to a different drum than guys out in the PNW, those translucent wires would get you laughed out of a hot rod hangout in the 60's let alone now. We used to call them twinkle lights as you usually saw the spark jumping around at night with the hood open.

 

Bad ass!

 

Dreddy,
That is one cool looking Caddy engine !

Tommy

 

Yeah, it has radio interference from the generator (I think) I don't listen to the radio much. The suppression "kit" calls for a cap at the armature connections of regulator and generator, and + pos of coil to gnd. too.

I split the difference and used resistor plug wires, but NOS non-resistor spark plugs. Seems to work well with good hot spark ignition. Didn't want to get too far off the beam with a Pertronix and hotter coil.

I noticed messing around with the scope, the coil wire is important. I've read it takes a lot of abuse and wears out first. Carbon core wires will anyway.

Seems like an old junk box coil wire I had laying around idled noticeably different than a new one, nothing else changed except the coil wire. Ignition is strange stuff.

 

When you have enough voltage to jump centimeters through air or punch through plastic/rubber insulation if given enough time, despite not having much distance between the live wires and ground in many places strange stuff WILL happen sooner or later. Sooner if you have large spark gaps, high compression, lean mixtures (these cause higher voltages, high voltages are best at finding a new route to ground) and let the wires rest straight on the valve covers etc. instead of hanging free from any metal in plastic or rubber holders.

 

Thanks for explaining the problems with electronics and solid wires, I been wanting the old time color braided wires for a long time, but running HEI it can't happen. Till they come out with the old style looking wires and carbon core, I will have to settle for 8mm grey!

 

I've read leaner fuel mixtures are harder to ignite or take longer to get going. How do they "cause" a higher voltage spark or just "need" a hotter spark or, put another way how do it know?? The ignition coil I mean, how does it know how rich or lean the fuel mixture is. I suppose it just won't jump the gap until it has a mind to.

The gap dimension between distributor terminals & rotor tip is also a factor, in the same way as the plug gap. And then resistance wires or resistance plugs too. A scope shows this. I had a fireworks show and burning rotors under the hood using electronic ignition and the points distributor till I found something online pointing out different length rotors over the years.

Something to do with smog era modifications. This opened up the rotor gap to acbieve higher firing voltages needed to reliably burn lean fuel mixtures without misfire. It might not be a factor with stock ignition coils, but start running hopped up ignition stuff, it doesn't like that. I'd like to think the rotor gap should be less than the plug gap, not sure.