Technical making spark plug wires

Question, is it worth it to make my own spark plug wires? I mean cost in supplies/tools vs. just buying them when I need them. I am thinking solid core wire for my 57 ford and 89 F150

Thanks,

Mike

 

Make your own. Brillman always has a nice wire that isn't as expensive as Packard 440. They got everything else, good stuff. I only had to scrounge up one special tool, some kind of coax crimpers I had in my pile. I wish I could use that wire on everything.

 

But the F150 is Duraspark? They say no real wire.

 

No brand new solid core sets are still available that I know of.
57 might use it, the 89 will have issues.
Buying the tools and the supplies for many jobs is going to cost more than premade, especially with high volume. Add in any waste from learning and it will tend to cost more, but you get exactly what you want and the experience.
There are 3 ways to go; a spool and all the bits, a set that's terminated on one end that you cut to length and finish or fully premade.

 

Every pre-made kit I've bought for an old car ended up being some generic thing where either some wires are way too long or way too short. The crimper tool isn't too expensive, I bought one and from here on out I'm likely just going to make them. I've got a bunch of extra ends and quite a few new sets of wires from random **** that don't fit anything in particular, I figure I can make a lot of sets of wires just from what I have laying around.

That said, no way I'd make solid core wires for a 1989 anything. Resistance wires were made for a reason, a lot of electronic ignitions need them. That you can probably actually buy a set for that fit.

 

Napa Belden blue wire has something in it the rodents around here just love to eat.

 

Found out the hard way some wire insulation is soy based now. Rodents love it. We had an outdoor hvac unit at work get all eaten up last year.... Soy based wire insulation. Weird.

 

Thank you all for the advice. Maybe I will get the supplies together to make a set for my 57 solid core and carbon for the F150. It is more for fun and like was said I know what I have and at the correct length.

Mike

 

Make your own, but the key is to get the proper crimping tool. So many guy's I know use pliers or some other tool and can't figure out why the car does not run right or why the end comes off when you remove the wire. You will have the tool forever and won't regret purchasing it.

 

I like this guy. Worth a look anyways...

https://www.noblespeedequipment.com/

 

There used to be spark plug wire kits with one end crimped on that you cut each wire to length and crimped the end on and had a lot nicer wire set on the engine than you would with the same wire in an alleged designed to fit set.
I've made wire sets from a roll of Packard 440 wire and wire ends and boots back in the 70's when you could walk in a parts house and buy the wire off a roll. We did it to have each wire "just so" .
I don't think that there is an electronic igniton out there that works well with solid core wire. From Back in the day transistor radios don't like them either unless you want to use the radio as a tach.

 

I could never find a set that would fit nicely on my engines, so I ended up buying a set of proper crimpers (which were not very expensive) and a handful of plug ends, then modifying my existing sets. Whenever I see a new set going real cheap at a swap meet, it doesn't matter what they are supposed to fit, I grab them, and chop away.

 

I make my own when I want them to fit really nice, normal cars I buy over the counter from the parts store. I bought the correct crimpers through Summit racing when I bought the plug wires. The last wires I bought had one end attached, and one end I cut to length, and put the end on. Stay away from solid core, the electronic stuff doesn't like solid core. Pertronix doesn't like them either. If your old car has aftermarket electronic ignition in it, don't use solid core wires, I found that out the hard way.

 

Most pre-made wire kits,don't have enough wire langth for the stock factory runs of Ford -Y-block=So ether use a new way to plugs/over valve covers,, or be real careful about if kit is long enough***check if listed for "Y",if its what you have.../or make your own from a spool. Stock Y goes from dis. cap down,back of heads,along top of bell housing,then under EX= left side front 2 cly wires are longer then most Fits All kits. Thats why,with fits all kit,have to go over valve covers{ looks sloopy to me,but works,if done that way,,, When done right,wires are clean n out of way,as in pic.

 

Reminds me of a story, it may have been here.
Guy likes blowers and gear drives, but his wife doesn't. stuck a marine speaker underhood, a cheap AM radio under the dash, with the antenna wire run next to the coil. All powered by a switch. Off, nice and quiet. On, (volume and no station picked) the speaker buzzed with RPM!

 

Rajah spark plug terminals are great. You can get them from Brillman, too.

 

I buy the universal wire sets that have the spark plug connector and boot installed.
I cut the wires to length and install boot and connector at the distributor end.
Better fitting than pre-made wires and easier than buying all the pieces and making your own.
This is the wire stripper/crimper that I use:
https://www.msdignition.com/products/spark_plug_wires/spark_plug_wire_accessories/parts/3503

I use a channel lock pliers to squeeze the crimper.

 

I’ve always used the stock Yblock looms, and they clear all the header and stock manifolds I’ve had. Carbon core (radio, as mentioned) and never had a problem. Supercharged or high compression engines, MSD’s, hot Mallory coils back in the day. No misses.

You can sand or freeze and drill the looms for bigger modern wire, but I’ve never had a problem with the oem style. Also never found a set the was the right lengths, all of them ended up being cut to length on at least some plugs.

 

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-900399
Tool I bought a while back, probably same one Fat *** Whitewalls mentioned, works great.

 

My old Mallory distributor has the top that the wires go into without ends on them and then you screw it down. I usually make my own but sometimes I will buy a set that has the wires too long and just cut down the side that goes into the dist. cap. The auto store has a crimping tool for spark plug wires and they let me use it if I need it. Back in the sixties I had silver Packard wire I thought looked cool. Does anybody remember that?

 

Remember copper cored wires are not so good if you have any modern electronics on the car. Not just radio but GPS, blue tooth and even some ignition modules.

 

Well, I noticed a big difference in how my flathead ran when I replaced some carbon wires with solid core. Night and day.

 

Had an MSD 6A on an OT car with solid wires years ago. The neighbors always knew when I came home because it interfered with their television sets.

 

I will mention one more thing you should plan ahead on. When making custom fit wires, if you make them nice and tight, perfect fit to the engine you might not be able to remove the cap without removing the wires! That ****s and will have you making them again with new wire. Leave enough slack next to the cap that it can be lifted off and over the rotor so the guts can be serviced.
If you are down to the last bit on the spool, you can use the longest to replace the next longest, and so on. You will need enough to make the longest one longer.

 

These little four legged *******s here, at least they mostly quit chewing when they get to the copper. On those carbon wires they just go right through.

 

Back in the day IIRC English car wiring was more susceptible to rodent damage than American cars. Don't know for a fact if this was actually true or if it was if it is still true today.

 

I bought the MSD Street Fire universal kit. You can order with straight or 90 degree boots and it also comes with the crimping tool.

 

I understand why after a look

 

Thank you all for the tips. In the 57 I am running points and eventually a stock radio. Although I may have it altered to accept blue tooth and a charging port in the distant future. So the solid core will work fin there. The F150 will get the spiral core wires. I also looked at Noblespeedequipment and went wow. Getting a set of wires for a Y block to work is frustrating on the driver side, they are just a shade to short.

 

^^^^^^^
If you do Bluetooth in the future you can power it thru a capacitor and mitigate the interference. You can also wrap all the wires with a nice metal band that aligns them as you like, then run a subtle ground wire to the motor. Something about ⅜ wide, maybe some stainless or soft aluminum. Hide it or expose it. Helps a lot, just ask early Vette owners.