Perfect Fit Spark Plug Wires
You can tell a lot about a person by looking at the details on their Hot Rod. If everything under the hood is nice and tidy you know they really care about their car. Every time I have attempted to install some pre made set of plug wires they just don’t do it for me. They need to be routed just right, be the perfect length and most importantly they shouldn’t distract from your engine!
We are getting ready to transplant a 430hp 383 stroker into our Project Chevelle, so in preparation I decided to make up a set of plug wires for the car. I prefer doing this on the engine stand if at all possible, because it gives you a lot more room to work around obstacles.
For the wires we chose to use Accel Extreme 9000 Spark Plug Wire Set. We have used these on several builds and really like the ceramic boots that they have. This product features 90° ends and is a universal set so that you can make the perfect length. This should be done on Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, or any other specialty application you want to look great!
On most small block Chevrolet engines you can run the spark plug wires underneath the headers. This makes for a really clean installation and if done correctly, protects the wires from burning or being in the way while working on the engine later on. I prefer to run the front 4 cylinders wires through the motor mount to help hold them out of the way.
On the passenger side, for cyliders 6 and 8 you can tuck the wires behind the starter to help shield them from the extreme heat from your exhaust. After you have them routed to the rear of the engine, run them along the back of the cylinder heads and straight up to the distributor cap. Keep them nice and straight that way they look tidy and most people won’t even notice that they are there.
MSD makes the best Spark Plug Terminal Crimper that I have ever used. It does a fantastic job of crimping your terminal and is a snap to use. Speedway Motors offers this specialty tool under part number 547-35051. There are also additional jaws that you can purchase that work with GM weatherpak connectors, amp connectors, insulated terminals and they even offer one for Deutsch connectors. The jaws meant for spark plug terminals also have a handy stripper blade that makes stripping insulation off of the wire super easy.
To get your rough length use a pair of sharp side cutters and cut the entire wire off flush. This is how your wires should look before installing the boots. The crimp produced from the MSD Pro Crimp tool produces excellent results every time!
After you have the terminals on I recommend using a small amount of Di-Electric Grease to help slide the boots on. This will also help insulate the connection and keep corrosion away from your connection. Once you have all the wires routed how you like I use zip ties to keep the wires together. This might seem like a less than ideal way to hold the wires together, but I prefer it over all other wire retainers. They can’t come out of the zip tie and if you hide them no one will ever see that’s what you used!
Here is our Blueprint 383 Crate Engine for Project Chevelle all dressed up in 70s attire. We decided to paint it up with some Chevy orange and put some Holley LT-1 Style Valve Covers and a Dual Snorkel Air Cleaner Assembly.
