how to correctly route spark plug cables

6

67rcks

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Feb 20, 2008

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May 18, 2011

#1

• May 18, 2011

• #1

I see often pretty engine bays with spark plug cables routed exactly as they supposed to be. There's quite a lot of combinations to figure it out. I have 8 OE Autolite cables in the box of different length let's say 1=shortest, 8=longest. Which cable goes to which cylinder?
Firing order 15426378, I have no. 1 cylinder at ~1-2 o'clock position on the distributor.

 

J

j69302

Active Member

Jan 31, 2006

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May 18, 2011

#2

• May 18, 2011

• #2

Starting from the passenger side front, is goes CYL # 1 2 3 4, driver side front, 5 6 7 8.

The distributor rotates counter clockwise, so the wire to the left of #1 wire on the distributor should go to cyl #5, then so on and so forth following your firing order.

RADIATOR
5 1
6 2
7 3
8 4

 

2

2+2GT

10 Year Member

Apr 25, 2009

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Southeastern Pennsylvania

May 18, 2011

#3

• May 18, 2011

• #3

There's a factory-specified routing trick you must use on the LH side, and I've seen fancy show cars that got this wrong. This photo is correct, so look closely:

 

6

67rcks

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Feb 20, 2008

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May 19, 2011

#4

• May 19, 2011

• #4

2+2 are you sure this photo is correct? Reading on the distributor from left, you fire 7, then 8, then passenger side, then 6, pass. side, then 5?

 

2

2+2GT

10 Year Member

Apr 25, 2009

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Southeastern Pennsylvania

May 19, 2011

#5

• May 19, 2011

• #5

On a 289 engine, the right side plugs are 1-2-3-4, the left side plugs are 5-6-7-8. On a 289, the firing order is 1-5-4-2-6-3-7-8. The #1 wire on the distributor is pointed toward the brake master cylinder. Notice the routing of the #7 wire, how it is separated from #8. This is correct. On the RH side, the wires run side by side, in order. If you do that on the left, the #7 wire can induce a spark in the #8 wire just as it's coming up on the compression stroke. This would be detrimental to performance, so Ford separated them.

The engine in that photo was running the day after that photo was taken.

 

B

BIGDATOWN

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Dec 3, 2010

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May 20, 2011

#6

• May 20, 2011

• #6

You also need to note that any high performance wire, that they NEVER need to cross paths, as they can cause spark jumping alot easier then you think.

 

6

67rcks

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Feb 20, 2008

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May 22, 2011

#7

• May 22, 2011

• #7

Well I did not say I have duraspark II (wide cap) and air cleaner really close to the distrbutor. This means that wire no. 5 is closest to the air cleaner, on the passenger side, and I could not route it nicely around no. 1 wire, wthout making large U bend. There is also vacuum actuator in the way. Will post photo. I don't see any sparks arcing, maybe problem of a cheap cables.

 

2

2+2GT

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Apr 25, 2009

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May 22, 2011

#8

• May 22, 2011

• #8

Looking forward to the photo.

Look for sparks in the dead of night, with no street lights.