Hi, this is my first post here and I've come across an issue with my car. To start off, this is my first foray into any sort of car repair/maintenance, so forgive me if this is a silly question. But as I was labeling/tracing my spark plug wires, I noticed that the number 5 and number 8 seemed to be swapped? In the attached image (sorry for potato quality) you can see that the number 5 goes to the passenger side and the number 8 to the driver side. From diagrams that I've seen of 350 small blocks, it should be the opposite, and from what I know, the car was running fine when in this configuration (its been sitting for 8+ years.) Any suggestions on what I should do?

 

Firing order is 18436572. Rotor turns clockwise. #1 cylinder is usually in the 5 o'clock position when looking at the distributor from the front.

It's very easy to get 5 and 7 mixed up as they are beside each other in the firing order and in the head.

Gm labels their cylinders 1, 3, 5, 7 on the drivers side and 2, 4, 6, 8 on the passenger side.

 

Yes, it's wrong Justin...SBC's and BBC's are pretty forgiving in some instances...notice 8 and 5 are opposite in firing order...my guess is two dead cylinders cancelling each other out, minimal notice in idle quality, etc...but in effect you're running a V6

Swap them and take a look at the plugs...note, number 8 is easiest to get to from under the car.

 

Thanks, I'm currently changing out all of the wires and plugs right now, but the fix will just be swapping the destination of the 8 and 5 wires?

 

You might want to get a new wire set, those don't look like they are capable of delivering full voltage to the plugs. Then install them using the guideline in post #2 above.

 

Its easy to accidently start the # 1 wire where the plug with the white arrow is. . Plug wire with the black arrow is # 1. Just look at the caps mounting screw in relation to the wires position.

 

This is too late but its here so.......For future reference here's a really nice set of wires at a really decent price
if you don't mind waiting a day or to get them.

I've been using them for many years and you can see them in my first reply and below.

There's only six wires in the photo because I had already installed the others before I decided to take photos.
The wire markers on them actually have nice dark numbers but did not come out in the photo above.

Wire link = http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-868858r

Cap and rotor kit = http://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-8406

Suggested spark plugs = AC Delco Conventional Resistor Spark Plugs R45TS