Right now until I actually wire separators or wire wraps, I have some plug wires zip tied together. I was reading in summit where they sell MSD wire separators so there are no misfires. Am I hurting my cars performance by doing this, right now I have a miss and don't have the tools up here at college to check all of my wires to see there condition.

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"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

i'd never tie any of them together and you always want to make sure 5 and 7 are as far apart as they can be since they're next to each other in firing order as well as on the engine.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

I have been running wire looms that connect using the valve cover bolts. The wires are real close together, but not crossed. I have no problems, the motor rips to red line nice and smooth. I guess it could depend on the quality of the wire.

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1988 L98
Vette Heads/no EGR
SLP Headers/Y-Pipe
ARAP bin

 

Thanks ede for the info, I have the 1,3,5,7 tied together (this is one the driver's side right?), plus I have the 6 and 8 together.I will immediately get some wire separators as soon as I have access to some ramps or a jack. I'm sure I'll figure this out when I get them, but what do the wire looms connect on to.

------------------
"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

I understand they should be separate now, but am I damaging the wires or anything else till I can fix this?

------------------
"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

The factory looms fit onto a bracket that's just a piece of about .150" wire. There are 2 of them, one right above the oil filter pad and one about at the center of the side of the block, on one piece of wire that's bent into a strange shape.

Chances are, if your wires run in the stock location but don't have the looms any more, that some of them are up against the Y-pipe on the driver's side. This will definitely damage the wires and eventually cause a miss. Tying them together at one point like that usually doesn't cause a problem; running them for long distances all tied together might though, since the pulse of current in one wire can induce a pulse in one of its neighbors. The quality of the wires doesn't really have much to do with that because it's the same effect that allows a timing light to work for example.

Like ede said #5 & #7 especially need to be cared for, because #5 fires while the #7 intake valve is at max open; so if these 2 get crossed or have coupling, the extra spark from #5 to #7 lights off the whole intake manifold, not just the wrong cylinder.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

Just recently I replaced a burnt plug wire that led into a terrible miss and hesitation. And then the car ran a lot better and no more missing. But now I have noticed a miss at idle of about 100 rpms. Could this be due to the fact of having them tied together, but that wouldn't explain why it didn't miss right after I replaced the burnt wire. I have checked to see if any wires are laying on the headers, but I guess I'll run the car at night to see if I see any arcs. Could having the 5 and 7 tied together like I do cause a loss in performance and if so how bad do you think it's hurting me?

------------------
"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

Wrap one zip tie around all 4 wires per side, then cinch 1-2 ties down, around the original zip tie, inbetween each wire to keep them seperated. Works great.

 

This is acceptable, but lower quality wires can cause inductive firing and spark energy loss if the wires are routed in parallel. The old trick used to be to intentionally route wires so that they intersected at sharp angles to reduce teh possibility of inductive cross firing. Wires are a lot better these days, but higher spark voltages and heavy-current ignition systems can create inductive problems even on newer design wires.

Separation is best, and as Ede mentioned, adjacent wires in the firing order really need to be separated well.

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Later,
Vader
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Justice and Freedom will Prevail
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Another thing about a month ago I bought some high temp spray paint with ceramic coating to spray my headers with. I also sprayed my plug wires the most I could. My brother told me if it has lead in it, it will cause problems with the wires. I read the can and couldn't find lead in it, anyone ever done this?

------------------
"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
EDELBROCK TES HEADERS
3" Hooker CatBack w/Aero Chamber muffler
EDELBROCK 600CFM CARB.
KN AIRFILTER
ACCEL HEI DISTRIBUTOR
160* Stat, just switched to 180* b/c of winter coming and going to college in the mts.
3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite