Ignition wire / cap install question

You want to PM a Mr. Dave Helms....he re-did my entire wire loom/Cap/Dizzy Boot assembly using stock tubing/Cavis ends, and replaced the old Cavis wires with VERY nice Taylor wire.....my car started up and ran beautifully on first crank. He's the 'wire wizard' as far as I'm concerned....

 

Have never used grease and it is not needed. It is non conductive. You are correct.
Even if the screw does not hit the core of the wire it will not prevent ignition. That situation is actually quite common in cars that run just fine. The spark will make the small jump required. It is not an ideal situation but it should not cause what you have going on. My first guess is that you have mixed up the wires and have the firing order off. After checking that get out an ohm meter and see what is going on.

 

If the wires are very old just all the handling may have broken down the wire internally. The wire gets pretty fragile when it is old. You might need to start replacing them. If you have an inductive timing light that can help look for bad wires. Also have a look and make sure the carbon center electrode is still in place.

 

+1
If you aren't hung up on having 100% Ferrari wires why not swap them out for an aftermarket set? 20 years ago I swapped out my nice red junk for 8mm wires from a Speed shop. A Chrysler hemi has the longest wires of most v8s I think so that would be a place to start. Th 8mms went into the caps tightly but worked great. The looms were a little tight too but it all worked out and 20 years later I am working on lots of other things other than ignition. Yellow Excel wires might be a bit too garish but I found blue ones and they are just fine if not ready for concours. BTW I upgraded to MSD coils at the same time and have not had the high rpm misfire my car had suffered from at the time.

 

I just recently replaced the wires on mine w/ ACCEL universal wires. They're 8mm w/ a red silicon cover. Putting the ends in the cap certainly took some time and a little diaelectric grease helped to fully insert them. After you get them in, be sure to check impedience between the plug cap and the corresponding distributor cap terminal.......should test as 0 ohms (no resistance).

 

I used silicone to lube the ends but grease would work too. Maybe its time to update my blue ones to the red Excel wires. Hmmmmmmm.......

 

First, confirm that your wires are on in the right order. Then change or clean the plugs and test the car that way. If you still have a low rpm misfire check the plugs to see which one is the culprit. This should get you started. And FWIW, ignition wires can do strange things. I had a coil wire once that acted like a rev limiter - 4 grand was all it would do but the engine ran fine up to that rpm. If you really are bent on keeping your wires but trying to confirm they aren't the cause, you can inspect them closely in an absolutely dark environment. Arcing will show up as the spark jumps from the wire to the engine casting. Another trick is to spray the wires with armor-all. This gives them a layer of insulation long enough for you to tell if there is a difference in performance. If there is none, and you have no major arcs during the nightime inspection, you most likely have a different problem.

 

A couple other items you might want to check would be that you have good, clean, dry contacts at the connectors for both of the timing sensors as well. The connectors are not water tight and occasionally if a bit of water gets in them it can cause irratic ignition issues. Also the plug extensions have been known to deteriorate and the spark will arch through to the valve cover before making it to the plug.