Re: spark plug wire sets for 1952

Posted by DavidPackard On 2017/3/7 18:23:00

I to was confused as to the plug wire routing through the 8 hole separator. I agree with HH56, there does not seem to be a photo or plate to follow . . . and I looked for one.
I wired my '54 by routing the forward cylinder plug wires through the forward holes in the 8 hole separator. This places all of the 'wire crossing' between the separator and the distributor cap towers. This would be the routing described by HH56.
When I wired my '48 I let the distributor cap tower dictate the placement of the wire. For the forward distributor cap towers the wires were routed through the forward holes in the 8 hole separator. This places all of the 'wire crossing' after (on the plug side) the 8 hole separator.
The '48 strategy makes for a 'cleaner look', at least to my eye, since between the cap and the separator the wires are quite orderly, and most of the 'wire crossing' is somewhat hidden by the coil. The photos I posted were of this wiring strategy. The '54 strategy is a bit busy between the cap and 8 hole separator.
I didn't include any information on firing order because my cars had the distributors installed essentially 180 out from one another. That's not a big deal once you know where number one is located and the direction of rotation, and the engine would never know if you simultaneously rotated the rotor 180 and advanced all plug wires by 4 towers.
I can't say that either scheme is prone to 'cross fire' or whatever the term is for the magnetic field in one wire inducing a current in its neighbor. The 327 runs like a big locomotive, while the 288 runs like a slightly smaller locomotive, perhaps like the little engine that could.
dp