Spark Plug Wires

The Rebel said:

Right now I have ThunderVolt 8.2mm wires with Electronic ignition and am looking to get OEM style wires. I'm looking for some suggestions/vendors. What if any benefit do the 8.2mm have?

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PurpleBeeper said:

I could be WAY off on this, but I always thought thicker wires were used for better insulation with high performance ignition coils to prevent the extra amps from arcing through the side of the wire to ground ?????? Not needed with a stock coil

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RJRENTON said:

Sir,
You are partially correct....the wire's insulation is to prevent the VOLTAGE from arcing thru to ground causing a misfire. Once the pathway is established, it will usually continue .... it will not "heal" itself. The diameter of the wire's CONDUCTOR will determine if there will be any current/voltage loss enroute to the spark plug. Obviously, the lower the resistance (of the conductor), there will be more voltage available to the plugs.
Bob Renton

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lewtot184 said:

I make my own wires and use MSD 8.5mm. this wire has a large conductor, good insulation, and low resistance. I was reading in one of my old factory service manuals and it said not to have more than 10,000 ohms resistance in a wire (if I understood this correctly). a resistor spark plug will have 5000 ohms so it's not too difficult to exceed the 10,000 ohms with lesser wires. the only question with this 10,000 ohm thing is how relevant it is with newer electronic ignitions?[/QUOTE
Lewtot,
You mentioned low resistance of the MSD wires. Wire resistance is expressed in ohms / foot....how many feet of wire is being considered ? The longer the wire the more resistance presented. How much volrage drop (loss) will result? Ohm's law (E = I x R ) will solve for the voltage loss at the plug plus voltage loss due to the plug's resistance. Not factoring in the distributor 's rotor gap resistance, which will add a small amount of loss to the equation. Some of the best wires made were not resistive suppression but inductive supression wires using a monel wire wrapped around a fiberglass core. This combination provided an elegantly simple but effrctive package of almost zero resistance and almost zero voltage loss.
Personally, I use solid (wire) conductor wires and NON resistor spark plugs for a negligible loss system. As long as the wire choosen has the capability of with standing the coils voltage, i see no need to expensive prefabed wires. Champion spark plugs use a "Q" suppression (inductive) method that does not have resistance "R" losses. I like to fab my own wires using terminals that are soldered to the conductors (real wires not carbon fiber). But this is just my opinion .... you pay your money and take your choice ....
Bob Renton

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