Rusty Muffler
Active Member
Do they deteriorate over time even not used? These are on my 57 Belvedere. What's the official resistance per foot for 7mm Prestosil Class E suppression cable?
Should I have used new unused plug wires that are 10 years old?
- Thread starter Rusty Muffler
- Start date
Should be fine to use.
Rusty Muffler
Active Member
I checked all of them and most are 2 feet long and measure 8.5-9.5k ohms on the 20k scale ohm meter.
Longer ones at 2'7" are around 10.15-10.70k ohms. Does this sound correct? Thanks!!
Considering how lengths can vary on an engine, continuity is a better issue to look for. Look at the different lengths in an inline 6, or a B/RB V-8, for example.
After an hour or so gapping the plugs on our '66 Newport 383, I took it to the dealership and asked to get it hooked up to their Sunn ignition oscilloscope to look at the spark traces on the screen. At idle, the plug firing spikes were all 8K to 9K volts. I smiled. This is a far better method than looking at blinking lights in a "spark tester" device. On those traces, you can see EVERY aspect of the spark plug firings, start to finish.
If the conductor in your vintage spark plugs is "carbon core", there MIGHT be some age-related issues, unlike "solid wire with resistor spark plugs". As long as they were pliable, should be no problems, I suspect. If in doubt, even the cheapest modern wires might be at least as good as the older OEM wires were back then. In any event, not much cost to get a pre-built set of magnetic suppression wires.
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
After an hour or so gapping the plugs on our '66 Newport 383, I took it to the dealership and asked to get it hooked up to their Sunn ignition oscilloscope to look at the spark traces on the screen. At idle, the plug firing spikes were all 8K to 9K volts. I smiled. This is a far better method than looking at blinking lights in a "spark tester" device. On those traces, you can see EVERY aspect of the spark plug firings, start to finish.
If the conductor in your vintage spark plugs is "carbon core", there MIGHT be some age-related issues, unlike "solid wire with resistor spark plugs". As long as they were pliable, should be no problems, I suspect. If in doubt, even the cheapest modern wires might be at least as good as the older OEM wires were back then. In any event, not much cost to get a pre-built set of magnetic suppression wires.
Just some thoughts,
CBODY67
As long as they were stored indoors out of the sun etc., they should be fine. I think the insulation would be the first thing to break down and if it looks good, I'd say they are good.
I've read that rule of thumb is 12K ohms per foot maximum, so that looks good to me.
volksworld
Active Member
last summer I finally installed the date coded wires I bought from Year One 20+ years ago...ranged from 10-30 k...checked the FSM and that was within spec
Similar threads
