Mixed plug wires?

[njsteve]

It is very easy to mix up #5 and #7 since they are next to each other in the firing order, and on the cap. The car will run slightly off from the resulting wrong order of firing.

When they talk of the distributor being a "few teeth off", it means it was installed in a position that the distributor base and the vacuum advance unit may not be in the ideal position to get the ignition timing set correctly. The advance unit may hit the firewall or the intake runner. By moving the entire set of plug wires over one terminal or two positions on the top of the distributor, you are doing the same thing as if you pulled the distributor and reset the position correctly.

It is kind of like setting your clocks back for daylight savings time. The clock is still telling you the right time, it is just moved back one position.

You probably need to have the distributor rebuilt and have the advance curve set properly. Sometimes the vacuum advance canister goes bad and either doesn't work anymore or creates a vacuum leak. If the mechanical weights are sticking, you won't get advance at all. I have a guy out west do mine and the difference is amazing when you have a properly operating distributor. Lazy advance curves will make a car run crappy and slow.

[Norwood]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It is very easy to mix up #5 and #7 since they are next to each other in the firing order, and on the cap.
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Steve, I think they are all next to each other on the cap and in the firing order since the wires are installed on the cap in the firing order......LOL so 1 is next to 8 wich is next to 4 which is next to 3....Maybe you ment on the plug.....

[njsteve]

I meant on the plugs themselves. I have seen people, myself included, connect the #5 cable on the #7 plug and vice versa.

[Alss]

OK guys..I have Daves vette here in my shop..its a very nice 55k mile car..right Dave? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img] sure looks the part. went and picked it up over the weekend and just by pulling it the trailer it was running like a locomotive!..something sure was amiss..no pun intended.
stated by doing some basic checks..here is what we found:

Daves vette:


pulled the shields off and took a peek:..sometings not right here


Couild this be a vacumn line off?..to the vac advance?..


and what about this vacumn port??


here are the sparkplug..they all look good firing wise, but check out #6

so..pulled the dist out and its....fugly!..sticky... hard to turn etc. mech advance wieghts dont move so good either, so..Its on its way to TI specialtied in Indiana for a full restore..dist, TI box and coil, and all have correct numbers and dates!


man the TI box is a bitch to get out!!..compression test tomorrow for laughs and giggles.

[Dave Rifkin]

As far as I know the mileage is correct on the car. I cannot thank Albert enough for tackling this challenge. As I have mentioned before, I had this car to numerous &quot;Corvette experts&quot; and none of them picked up on these things that Albert found in the short time he's had the car.

Albert forgot to mention that the distributor was not installed correctly; when he brought the #1 cylinder to TDC the rotor was pointing to the #8 cylinder instead of #1. The plugs were gapped at 42 instead of 35 which is what Albert said would have been recommended.

I can't wait to see how much better she runs when I get the car back. After 8+ years I'll finally have the car I had hoped I'd have when I first bought it.

[Xplantdad]

Cool that you're getting the help that you need. Albert rocks! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]

[Alss]

[Alss]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dave Rifkin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As far as I know the mileage is correct on the car. I cannot thank Albert enough for tackling this challenge. As I have mentioned before, I had this car to numerous &quot;Corvette experts&quot; and none of them picked up on these things that Albert found in the short time he's had the car.

Albert forgot to mention that the distributor was not installed correctly; when he brought the #1 cylinder to TDC the rotor was pointing to the #8 cylinder instead of #1. The plugs were gapped at 42 instead of 35 which is what Albert said would have been recommended.

I can't wait to see how much better she runs when I get the car back. After 8+ years I'll finally have the car I had hoped I'd have when I first bought it. </div></div>

I cant take all the credit, my buddy Joe is the driving force on the diagnostics..he's a sharp cookie..seen it all [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] ..he may chime in here later.