installing 8mm ignition wires in 7mm cap

Hello, how difficult is it to install 8mm igntion wires in 7mm distributor cap?
Or what is the best way?
thanks everyone

Charles

 

return the 8mm,,, get some 7mm. ( $ 60.00)

-or-

drill out your $ 300.00 ferrari cap.

 

It's actually pretty easy if you apply some lubricant to the ends of the wires before attempting to jam them in. I used WD40 with good results many years ago.

 

Are you sure they were 8mm?
I had to lube up the 7mm, with si plug-cock grease, to get them in the cap....?

Edwardo

 

They are Taylor 8mm wires.

 

I do it all the time, it depends on the wire, if you use a MAGNECOR wire, (by the way they make the finest wire in the world in my opinion) You can actually just shave a mm off of it on a bench grinder & slide it into your OEM caps. The wire is silicon, fantastic stuff works well with all OEM ecu's. Avail in red in 8MM. Much better than the cheesy OEM wire that they charge a fortune for.
(OOPS! Just probabaly pissed off the OEM parts guys!) it's the truth!

7MM was only avail in black last time I checked.

You can drill out the caps, I used to do it also, it does get scary if one cracks, if you are not experienced in drilling caps, you probably will crack a cap the first time.

http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/main.htm

Check them out!

 

With the Taylor wire, you will have to drill the caps out.

 

thanks Nick, I can practice with a small piec of scrap 8mm wire.
Charles

 

i have made my own wire sets using Taylor wires. i shave them down my hand with a razor blade. i build the wire sets in the house at a well lit table and OHM check them to make sure the little bastard brass screws are making proper contact in the cap. Taylor wires are great, and i have been very happy with them.

Michael

 

Me too with 8mm wires. I went farther and stripped back the wire end, exposing the inner core, folded the inner core back over the side, modified a crimp-on terminal and crimped it on the end tight enough to go easily into the 7mm cap hole and to guarantee good contact with the core. That way I could rotate and align the wire to get the distributor cap pointed screw to go into a little hole in the crimp-on terminal. I also bought two sizes of white shrink wrap (one for the plug boot and one for the wire) and made them look like original Ferrari red wires with white insulators. My BBQ worked fine for shrinking the wrap. Also, the white lettering on the wires comes off easily with Goof-Off or Glue-Be-Gone. A class job but a lot of work. Photo is before installing terminals
Good Luck
Tom Kizer
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beautiful work!

 

Thanks Tom, the wires really look great!!!!!!!!!!!
Charles

 

AW SHUCKS! The compliments are embarrassing but encouraging. I felt guilty not showing a photo of the terminal so I went out, took my distributor cap apart and shot one. I have to clean up the distributor cap and install new numbers anyway, so it wasn't such a sacrifice. Besides, with 5 feet of snow outside, it's not like I need the engine assembled in order to drive the car today.

I trimmed the crimp-on terminals (the Taylor ones) with side cutters, but don't remember just exactly how, and then filed the sharp edges off. My objective was to enable the pointed distributor screw to lock through the little hole in the terminal into the wire insulator so the wire wouldn't pull out and the terminal would provide good electrical connections to both the pointed screw and the wire core (you can see the end sticking out along the wire). It also kept me from having to lubricate the wire to insert it.

I should have done a better job of trimming the wires with a razor blade but I got impatient and they are hidden inside the distributor cap hole anyway. Note that the depth of penetration of the wires are not all the same, so the length of some of the trimmed sections are different. If the trimmed part is visible outside the distributor cap hole, it will be noticeable. leave a couple of inches extra so if you make a mistake, you won't have to go out and buy more wires. The voice of experience talking. I didn't have to buy any extra wire sets but a couple of my wires, after error correction, were BARELY long enough.

One mistake I made is that I didn't realize that the shape of the spark plug end of the wires (see the previous photo) is only to make it easier to pull off the plug, not to insulate some internal metal boot of that shape. Apparently, the shape is all silicone rubber and could have been reshaped with a razor blade to look like an original Ferrari plug boot before shrinking on the shrink wrap. The plug wire would have looked completely authentic and original. OH WELL, next time.
Tom Kizer
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