[BlueScreen]

Hi everyone,

I'm at a crossroad in my quest to upgrade my ignition system. I'm following the recommendation by Ed to resolve my issue above 5K RPM previously mentionned in another thread. I got the MS3Pro PnP for 96-98 Mustang (will create a thread for that later, very impressive BTW). My IGN-4 coil packs from DIYAutotune are in the mail => IGN-4 Four-Tower Coil Pack

They come with male HEI end, like in this picture.

Unfortunately,this is what spark plug wires look like for my year/model:

I need a wire with this boots at the spark plug side, and male HEI at the coil side. As far as I know, this doesn't exists.

My first choice would be to keep my wires, cut the coil end, and crimp one of those connector => https://www.summitracing.com/parts/alm-24140

Or, should I contact Magnecor and have them built a custom wire set?

If anyone used these coil pack, what have you done to adapt your wires? Bonus points if you can provide mounting solution for the coil pack as they are differents from OEM

Thanks!

 

[eschaider]

Michel,

MSD makes a set of 8.5mm ProStock wires for Ford and Chrysler ProStock engines. They look very similar to the Top Fuel plug wires that MSD offers, but they are different. The T/F wire set will not fit down our plug wells. The MSD Ford/Chrylser ProStock set will. The MSD/Holley part # is 31539. Here is a link to the set on the MSD site => Ford & Chrysler ProStock Wire Set. The Holley website price, I believe, was slightly less than Summit's! To see the Summit equivalent use part # MSD-31539 in their search engine.

This particular set is about as good as it gets. The hard plastic plug end of the wire is length adjustable to place the individual plugwire finger pulls just above the valve cover. The distributor end of the wires uses the GM HEI-style connectors that will fit right on the coil terminals. The plug ends come assembled, and the coil ends come ready to be cut and fit to the engine bay in your car. Use an MSD or equivalent crimping tool to assemble the ends to the wires.

Because the two coils you will use will need to be deployed in wasted spark mode, you want to locate them where the wire runs are shortest and as straight as possible. That means either the front or back of the blower, wherever space is most available. Each coil will end up firing two cylinders on one side of the engine and two cylinders on the opposite side of the engine, so placement to minimize wire run length is your guiding light.

The coil mount is only two screws per coil, so I would consider a flat plate and using nuts and bolts or press-fit nuts from McMaster, click here =>metric-steel-press-fit-nuts-for-sheet-metal/ to hold the coils in place.

You will be very happy with the finished product. Remember to pay attention to your dwell times. A 3ms dwell is about the speed limit for the coils. The MS3Pro will allow you to dynamically change the dwell based on engine speed so you can run small dwells for daily driver type stuff, and when you get after it, the ECU will automatically add additional dwell time. This will enhance engine performance and prevent cooking and subsequently exploding the coils from boiling the cooling oil inside them.

 

[BlueScreen]

Ok sounds good. Summit, Jegs and Holley all have pretty different pictures for this part number so not sure exactly how they look. They all seems to have a thiner spark plug boots. Isn't there risk for dirt to get down the spark plug hole? The OEM wires have a wider boots that act like a gromet if you will, to prevent dust getting there.

Also, if you look closely, the coil pack have 3 screws per coil. I can think of different ways to adapt them, but I have to wait to have them in hands first.

I already have a dwell table setuped ready to be applied when the coil pack will be installed. According to the product page from DIYAutoTune, the recommended dwell for those coils is 3 to 3.5ms so I went to 3.5 under full load

 

[eschaider]

Ok sounds good. Summit, Jegs and Holley all have pretty different pictures for this part number so not sure exactly how they look. They all seems to have a thiner spark plug boots. Isn't there risk for dirt to get down the spark plug hole? The OEM wires have a wider boots that act like a gromet if you will, to prevent dust getting there.
View attachment 176386


Also, if you look closely, the coil pack have 3 screws per coil. I can think of different ways to adapt them, but I have to wait to have them in hands first.
View attachment 176385

I already have a dwell table setuped ready to be applied when the coil pack will be installed. According to the product page from DIYAutoTune, the recommended dwell for those coils is 3 to 3.5ms so I went to 3.5 under full load

The wires with the black insulator and the blue wire are other than what I suggested to you. The red wires with the black rubber plug grommets are the correct wires; the pic just does not show the plastic shield/housing that goes over the plug grommet. If you want to be sure you get the correct wires, use the part numbers I posted for the reseller sites, and it will pull up the correct wire set. If you are uncomfortable with one or more of the retail distribution channel participants, go to the MSD webpage and buy direct from them — you will get the correct wires for certain.

With respect to the dirt in the plug well issue, I have not experienced a problem with that in over 60 years. That said, if you want to feel better about the issue, just blow out the plug well with an air hose before removing the plugs, and you will be good to go. The deep plug wells have been used by Chrysler since the early 1950s and the dirt in the plug well issue has not bubbled up as an issue. Even when we have crashed a race car and driven it upside down, in the dirt, a quick shot with an air hose was all that was required to clean out a plug well.

 

[eschaider]

Follow on thought ...

I just checked and the Holley/MSD site, the Summit and the Jegs site all have the same price for these wires. To be sure you get the right set, just order off the Holley site. Here is the link =>Ford and Chrysler ProStock Hemi Wire Set. The price is the same as distribution.

This is what the pic should look like,

 

[BlueScreen]

Sorry about the confusion, the blue wire is a picture I took of my wire to compare the boots with the one from the MSD wire set. It was about the dirt and not the different MSD. Good to know it's not an issue.

I will place an order for this wire set over the week-end. I may end-up buying from a canadian retailer, shipping and import fees is sometime a deal killer for us up there.

Thanks a lot for the help again, Ed

 

[BlueScreen]

Just got my new wires in the mail! I belive that is exactly what you (Ed) recommended. ECU and IGN-4 should be there just in time for the week-end.
There is no instructions in the box, or the MSD web site and I'm not 100% sure how all of this goes together, will have to look that up.

 

[eschaider]

MSD is so nice!

I think I have instructions at home Michel. I'll check tonight. If I am correct and I do, I'll make a pdf copy for you and either post it or send it to you. UPDATE: As luck would have it, I have a pdf copy for the assembly of the HEI end connectors and I am attaching it to this post.

The spark plug ends of the wire need no crimping. MSD handled all that electrical stuff for us but you must assemble the plastic plug well shell to the plug end of the wire. When you do put check out how tall the installed assembly is. The plug wire shells can be cut to length to place the finger loop you use to pull them out of the plug well wherever you like it most.

Before you begin cutting the coil ends of the wires to length and crimping the ends on, be sure to select your ignition coil locations and then lay out your wires. Remember on the four wire towers what you really have is a wasted spark design. The Modmotor firing order is 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. Wasted spark ignition designs fire two cylinders simultaneously one on the compression/ignition cycle and the other on the exhaust cycle but before the intake valve opening.

If my memory is correct that means terminal pairings will be 360˚ crankshaft degrees apart. That means pairings should look like this; 1/6, 3/5, 7/4, and 2/8. I believe I am correct but as a prudent double check call DIY and ask them to confirm the wire pairings and also the connection to the MS3Pro.

Here is the how-to for the coil ends of the wires:

 

[BlueScreen]

Thanks for the instructions Ed. There was instructions on how to crimp the wires, but not for the assembly. Took me a minute and I figured it out. Not sure about the red tube on the left. Is it something specific for the Chrysler / Hemi that I'm not going to use? I think they may go on the coil pack end, but it would take too much space and I don't see how they would be useful for me.

I will double check before installing the wires but I'm quite certain you got the right cylinder pairing for wasted spark.

 

[eschaider]

After you insert the silicon rubber-shielded connector into the long red tube, you use the short red tube to lock it into place. One end of the tube is just small enough to hold the silicone rubber-shielded connector in place and the other end of the tube snaps onto the longer red tube locking the entire assembly together into a single connector.

The long red tube has a series of annular rings up to where the finger pull is attached. After you have assembled everything except the finger pull put the assembly down a plug well and snap it onto a plug. Look at how high it protrudes above the rocker cover surface. Position a finger pull clam shell half next to it to find the height you want to use. Always go a little tall on your first shot. It is easy to cut again and impossible to put back what you have cut off.

Once you have everything scienced out, disassemble everything and cut the red plastic tube by the annular ring closest to the height you were looking for. Remember go tall, not short. Reassemble the whole shebang. If you like the length and don't want to shorten it anymore then build the remaining seven. Make sure the length you choose leaves room for your fingers to fit inside the hook to pull the wires off. When you are done you will have a forever set of wires.

As an interesting oh by the way, those wires have the lowest ohms per foot of any sparkplug wire available from anyone, anywhere. In a word, they are simply the best. Check them out on youtube.

Check in your sparkplug wire shipping box. MSD used to ship an MSD 3503 mini stripper to strip and crimp the ends on the wire. If you got it great, if you didn't Summit used to sell them for about $10 or $12. If you want the absolute best connections then you need the MSD Pro Crimping Tool. Here is an MSD YouTube vid on the 8.5mm wire and how to crimp ends onto it, click here => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQDSlpKrCw

To their credit, MSD has published quite a few excellent YouTube videos on how to assemble and use their wires. You can easily turn them up is a quick search containing MSD and plug or spark plug wires.

Here is the instruction manual on the mini-crimper. It is actually four 5x7 inch pages printed two up.

 

[BlueScreen]

Ok I got it. This is what the spark plug end look like once assembled for testing. Crimping is no problem, but instructions from MSD on how to assemble thoses wires would have been great. Haven't found any video with wires like that.

This is plugged on the spark plug, no cutting yet. I may have to cut it as low as possible but will measure twice before any cutting.

I tested a wire, about 5ft, at 250ohm so right in the ~50ohm per foot.
The crimping tool was included, you can see it in the first picture of post #7 inside the wires.

My MS3 got back today, hopefuly I can start working on that this week-end.

 

[eschaider]

MSD is a couple of eggs short of a dozen in the product instructions category and I am not sure why. They used to be better. Anyway, you nailed the proper assembly process, Michel!

I thought you had a 4V. Either way, those plug connectors will make it easier to get to the plugs. Shorten them up just enough to clear any obstructions in the area but leave enough height to get a good finger grip on the plug wire pull-out gizmo. Every time I've tested that 8.5mm MSD wire it comes in at 50 ohms per foot or better — pretty impressive stuff!

 

[BlueScreen]

Nope, I'm one of the few that still rocks 2V. It's a 97 GT with TFS 2V heads. I did ran low 10 and would love to touch 9 sec this summer. It's mostly a street car, but sometime I do autocross and drag racing. The setup is not optimised or perfect for any situation, but I'm more than satisfied with the performance overall.

Knowing it's a 2V, would you have suggested a different part number? It may not be too late for me to return those wires and get another set.

 

[eschaider]

Not really, Michel. The issue is the depth you need to go to get to the plug. The Ford/Dodge ProStock wires have the most elegant and only really clean solution for deep plugs like you have. The adjustability of the plastic plug housing's length makes it possible to create a nicely optimized wire set, for situations like yours. The hooked finger catch makes it a breeze to put them in and get them out. You've very likely got the optimum solution — especially after you adjust lengths to suit your situation.