Spark plug wires

Carl....  I can't help using the part number.....   That 8 or 10 mm spec is for the outside diameter, not wire guage....   Read as much as you can of the data on the packaging,,,   Any thing refering to radio suppression usually denotes carbon impregnated fibre as the conductor....   It is possible they are copper with resistor caps on one end or the other, usuall at the plug end....  To check that, look into the center of the wire on the dist. cap end and see if there is any copper present...  Or the easy way, call the vendor....

Leon...there's no vendor information on the plastic bag (packaging) only manufacturers address and e-mail in Sao Paulo Brazil. They haven't responded to my request for information of two weeks ago!

Maybe translation problems??

The O.D. reads 6.95mm...I guess that's close enough to call it 8mm? Why would the conducting element - be it copper, or carbon - have different diameters for rubber sheathing?

Perhaps an added insulation thickness for using mega zapping after-market coils?

The plug connection deep inside the boot has a dull silver metallic appearance...which must mean it's carbon filled?

I got such a good deal on these that it would be a shame not to know what the hell I bought! 

7, 8, and 10mm are today's standard plug wire ODs....  The actual conductor can be anything....  If you look into the distributor end you may see real copper, real steel, or real carbon impregnated fabric....  Use the coil wire to check it out....   You can use a needle to gently try to push any conductor from side to side and determine if its metallic or fiber...

Standard Bosch units ( 009, 050, 010 ) all use 7 mm plug wires... You can try to call up the manufacturer on the internet....  Get that Portuguese bar tender from down the block to translate....   Hope this helps some....

So, here's the thing. The fattest, coolest, most impressive boy-racer spark-plug wires you ever saw do no good unless the power gets to the plug tips.

I had a nice set of Taylor plug wires a couple of years back. As you know, the stock-style Bosch wires use bakelite ends that slip over the threaded ends on the spark-plugs. They look like they were designed in about 1940, which they probably were. The Taylor wires on the other hand, are "conventional"-- the wire ends snap on the little nipple that comes in the box of with the spark-plugs when they are new. Some plugs have these nipples molded in as part of the plugs, but 12 mm long-reach NGK plugs I use do not. To run the big-'ol wires, one needs to thread the nipples on the plugs, and snap the wires on the nipples.

That's all well and good, except that the nipples on my plugs kept backing off the plugs. Nothing-- not tightening them with slip-joint pliers, not securing them with locktite-- nothing kept them from loosening. When the nipples loosen, they create an electrical restriction. This whole thing set up a miss in my engine that became a backfire, that set up a nice little camp-fire in my 1-2 carb.

I pulled the super-duper Taylor wires off and went back to Bosch 7 mm plug-wires, and the standard bakelite ends. I run a CDI box, a Mallory 30,000 v coil, and all the ignition extras known to a gear-head from the great plains. I've never noticed that the stock plug wires did anything to hinder the set-up, and I've never had an electrical miss since (except for one set up with a $400 Mallory unilite with more scatter than a sawed off 12 ga, but that's another story)

Forewarned is forearmed.

Stan, was it a newer Unilite, or an older one.  By older I mean 5+ years old.

I know where you are going with that, Ron. It was from '08.

I originally bought my Unilite back in 2003 (the old ones are the best ones).  Henry (at IM) knows I guy who rebuilds distributors, so I had him rebuild my Uni after the big fire.  I've often wondered what parts were used for the rebuild.  Were they the newer parts?  Are all the newer parts crappy?

I think the distributor's guts were okay.  The cap and rotor were a melted mess.