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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Sparkplug Wires

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Sparkplug Wires -- page: 1 2     Dolman 07-25-2011 @ 11:27 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 Good suggestions, Tom When you mentioned brass wool, I thought of Brasso. (Army guys will remember that smelly stuff.) Dipped a QTip in it and scrubbed the sockets with it and it cleaned up all of the corrosion. I didn't take the time to get a new brass shine anywhere other than the bottom of the sockets and the contact ridges. Inserted new spark plug wires and measured 0.1 ohm from the rotor contacts to the spark plug connectors. I think I'm good to go as soon as I solve the generator problem I mentioned in another topic. TomO 07-25-2011 @ 8:04 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7385 Joined: Oct 2009 I don't know if the Bob Drake reproductions have the same problem as the Argentine reproductions. Maybe someone has ordered them and checked them out. NORS inner caps sometimes turn up on E-Bay and around here there are a few vendors that sell them. One of them usually shows up at Elkhorn, WI swap meet on Aug 6 and 7. I would replace both caps, but you can clean the corrosion out of the one cap with brass wool wound around a dowel. Tom Dolman 07-24-2011 @ 9:43 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 Story of my life. What seem to be simple solutions frequently become complicated. Thanks for the warning, Tom. I do have to get a new contact plate for the left side. After seeing the crud in the right plate, I decide to look at the left side. Nice and bright contacts but about 1 inch of the flange perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the plate is broken off. It may be ok, the plugs on the left side look good, but it bothers me. Maybe, I'm too fussy. ford38v8 07-24-2011 @ 8:47 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2883 Joined: Oct 2009 To add to what TomO said, if you find any contact that is too short, it can be lengthened with solder. A bit too much solder won't be a problem as the rotor will shave the solder down. An NOS cap is preferable to a repop, but will probably not quite fit as the plastic shrinks over the years. Don't force it, just file it lightly and it will fit. Alan TomO 07-24-2011 @ 8:13 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7385 Joined: Oct 2009 Be aware that the reproduction inner caps made in Argentina may have contacts that are too long and they will contact the rotor, destroying both the cap and the rotor. Mount the cap on the distributor with the coil off of the distributor and measure the clearance between the rotor and the cap contacts for .005-.010. Tom ken ct. 07-24-2011 @ 12:37 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1513 Joined: Jan 2010 I would clean all the contacts on the inner plate till shinny brass. "O" rings can be gotten at any hardware store,bring outer cap with you for good fit. There is a gasket between the 2 caps. ken ct. Dolman 07-23-2011 @ 10:50 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 Used one of those contorted picks that dentists use to remove the o ring without tearing it up and got the cap apart. Found no carbon tracks but did find a lot of dirt and corrosion. The socket for #1 is very green. The crimp on connector for the wire does not make firm contact with the resistance varying from .2 ohms to open depending on manipulation of the crimp on. Looking at the picture on Page 20 of the Yellow Book, I note that the gasket between the cap and the contact plate is missing. The rubber boot at the wire input port is severely torn. Obviously a ham fisted "mechanic" worked on it at some time in its history. Anyway, the new plug wires are soldered at the distributor end which gives me comfort. I won't try to clean up the plate sockets and will give C&G another piece of my retirement income. Never saw a hearse pulling a U-Haul. Thanks for the help Alan and Henryat1140. ford38v8 07-22-2011 @ 10:14 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2883 Joined: Oct 2009 Dolman, your wire may have shorted to the inside of your conduit. A test you may try is to remove the conduit from it's mount, hold it with a rubber glove away from contact with the engine, and start the engine. See if the conduit will spark to the engine, which will confirm the short. Another possible is that your distributor cap has a carbon trace from #1 contact to another. Check by eye without touching, this fault will appear as a tiny fine line inside the cap starting at the contact and maybe trailing off without a clear destination. Alan Dolman 07-22-2011 @ 8:53 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: Dec 2010 Thanks for the help. I should have said a very weak spark. The other 7 are about 3/8 to 1/2 inch long when shorted to the head while connected to the plugs. The engine starts immediately so I think the distributor system is ok. Anyway, I hope so. Henryat1140 07-22-2011 @ 7:18 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 110 Joined: Nov 2009 Hello, There is an 'o' ring around the part of the outer cap that protrudes thru the inner cap. Remove the O ring and you can separate the inner and outer caps. But if you have no spark at all, I would think it unlikely the wire is at fault. I'd look for a bad coil or condenser or a problem in the distributor.

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