[foleysfriend]

I am running a pertronix III with the matching coil in my stock distributor. Would it be advisable to upgrade the wires. They are a Scott Drake repo stock ones . Kit and finish is great just want to know if they are going to cause lack of spark or have greater resistance causing the system not to function at full capacity. Seems the car has a miss at the start of warm up, but after it runs for 5 min it is ok. Just a thought it might be a cause. Not sure how these wires are designed or should only really be used with a stock points system and stock coil.

Thanks

Greg

 

[PSIG]

I don't know the construction of the Drake wires, but they are likely stock-style carbon-core. You can pull the boot back on one to check. If so, they should spec-out the same as stock wires (ohms-per-foot) using the testing parameters in your manual. If that's good, and your wire layout is good to prevent cross-fire, you should be fine. Note the 5 & 6 wires on HO/351 firing order, and the 7 & 8 wires on 289 and most others are the ones to be especially aware of. Do not parallel either of these wire pairs, and use high-angle crossover only. You can always check for cross-fire to confirm.

However, a startup miss that goes away is usually fuel:air related, and indicates it is excessively lean or rich with your choke system.

David

 

[foleysfriend]

Thanks David

So I may have to tune the choke set up a touch.. Maybe the fast idle is not set properly. Manual choke on a 570 street avenger. Running a camshaft with large duration may tend to be a bit fussy at idle too....Just thinking compared to a stock one. And what you were saying about plug wires 7 and 8 is that they should not be crossed at all ...Correct

Greg

 

[foleysfriend]

May have read that wrong. The 7 & 8 wires should run parallel or they should not. Or watch that they are not crossed over each other to cause a misfire. My issue is that when I am starting the car it seems that it doesn't have a smooth operation when the choke is initially pulled out. Thought this may be something in the ignition. Might just be a manual choke adjustment. This is a very lean carb to begin with 270hr Comp cam / 289

Thanks again

Greg

 

[foleysfriend]

Found the wires were crossed and now have the separation with the looms holding the wires ...7 5 6 8 . Might help. Time to start the car when the neighbors wake up



Thanks
Greg

 

[Mroldfart2U]

Correct Dont let the wires run parallel to each other and vross them at high angles if they have to cross one another....

 

[PSIG]

That's it. Also, when you start, slowly move the choke cable a bit richer or leaner to find if the miss gets worse or better. Is it a random miss or consistent? If fairly consistent, do a spit-test* on the headers to find which one it is so you can pull a plug to read what it is or is not doing.

*The spit-test is just a trick to find the colder header tube. Spray water or tap each tube with spit on your finger to find the tube that is colder and evaporates the spit/fluid slower. That will be the missing cylinder. You could use a temp gun, but the spit test is faster. Do this a early in the startup as possible, when the headers are just beginning to warm-up.

David

 

[foleysfriend]

Never knew about that spit test...Thanks and the wires are in the right location now. They were crossed at the distributor end by the cap and moved the #7 wire to the front of the loom. Now they don't touch.


Thanks

Greg