Experts needed

[Michael H.]

Re: Experts needed

i have an ooriiginal 66 390 plug wire whose boot is gray.mike

Thanks Mike. What is the date on the wire?

[Michael H.]

Re: Experts needed

Michael -- dug out my copy of Burroughs' 'State of the Art' and on pg 75 you definitely see gray boots [alongside almost complete Chevy orange overspray of the exhaust manifold ].

Thanks Wayne. I don't remember if the car had it's original wires when I owned it. I doubt it because it had 80,000 miles at that time. I suppose it's possible though.

I'll see if I can find a few pic's of the engine before restoration.

[Wayne M.]

Re: Experts needed

I can help with the length of the BB plug boot, 2.6 inches from end to end As to the original color, it is noticably not black, but not real light either. I'll look tomorrow and see if I have one somewhere, but I don't think I do.

Bill -- while your looking, here's a comparison of boot on a set of service '84-dated wires (top) and that of a CC repop below (Lectric Limited manufacture ?).

[William C.]

Re: Experts needed

I'll look in the barn and see if I have an nos set I can measure the length of the boot on. It looks like LL is using a boot designed for a "peanut" (modern) plug rather than the old original. I don't know who they are buying their stuff from now, I know the plant we made the individual parts in has been closed for a while now, Not much about the LL boot that looks like an original.

[Ronald L.]

Re: Experts needed

LL claims to be the expert, I not always agreed with some of their claims, so in this case I hope once its determined what was corrrect, someone tells them...

[Stephen L.]

Re: Experts needed

The photos are of an original 67 wire set and a wire from Lectric Limited. The center photo is an original boot.
The right photo is a comparison with the LL wire on top.
The boot length on the original is 2" while the LL boot is about 1/8" shorter.
Both are colored grey (Slight variation).
The woven jacket on the LL wire is considerably different than the original.

[William C.]

Re: Experts needed

I'd be very careful on the description of the boot pictured in the center as representing a "typical" original boot. The angled boots are actually molded straight, and the angle is formed by an angle in the metal terminal the wire is crimped to. The sequence of assembly is the boot was blown onto the wire at a point beyond the location of the terminal that connects to the sparkplug. The terminal was installed, and the boot mechanically moved to it's position over the terminal. Variation in the crimping process or the forming of the angle in the terminal can lead to all kinds of odd-looking shapes in the boot. More recently, I believe they had to resource the boots, as they originally obtained them from the Delphi-Packard Electric group, where the original tooling was available for limited production runs. That facility was mothballed so I don't know the source of the parts currently used for the reproductions, nor the accuracy to the original designs. Looking at the picture if you eliminated the hump in the crimp on the reproduction I'm not sure there is really a length difference in the boots. Yes, the braid is different and always has been in the LL product I have seen over the years.

[Stephen L.]

Re: Experts needed

The boot in the center photo is one out of the set shown in the left photo which are original wires dated in 67. I realize the boots follow the metal insert. I didn't say they were molded that way.

[Ken A.]

Re: Experts needed

The photos are of an original 67 wire set and a wire from Lectric Limited. The center photo is an original boot.
The right photo is a comparison with the LL wire on top.
The boot length on the original is 2" while the LL boot is about 1/8" shorter.
Both are colored grey (Slight variation).
The woven jacket on the LL wire is considerably different than the original.

Stephen,
Do you have a picture of an ORIGINAL coil wire? I believe it should have 2 90 degree boots to clear the shielding on a Corvette. Not interested in service sets, as the ones I have seen only have a 90 at the distributor end.
Ken

[William C.]

Re: Experts needed

Per the AIM, the part number for the coil wire was 2989253. I have the print for that part and it has a right angle terminal/boot at the coil end and a straight distributor end, same as the plug wires.

[Wayne M.]

Re: Experts needed

Stephen,
Do you have a picture of an ORIGINAL coil wire? I believe it should have 2 90 degree boots to clear the shielding on a Corvette. Not interested in service sets, as the ones I have seen only have a 90 at the distributor end.
Ken

Bill is correct --- both '65 AIM L78 section (ie. no radio) and U69 section (with radio distrib shield and wire woven sheath on plug wires) shows the same distr. to coil wire part #; I suppose because it's totally under the chrome surround shielding.

[Stephen L.]

Re: Experts needed

On a U69 shielded engine the plug ends at the distributor should be right angled boots, not straight. The coil wire, as Bill said, is a right angle at the coil and a straight boot at the distributor cap.

[William C.]

Re: Experts needed

That is correct.

[Mark D.]

Re: Experts needed

Here are a couple close-ups of an original boot...