Thanks, Mark. I didn't have time to check these before install. Assumed they'd be ok, since they were a REPLACEMENT set for another episode.

Plug wire resistances before fixing:
1- 345 ohms
3- 555 ohms
5- 4.5kohms
2- 1.13kohms
4- 30kohms
6- Broke boot. Couldn't measure.

Now its:
345
555
675
1.13k
1.12k
1.20k
(longest to shortest)

The 1/4 coil is intermittent. Measures full open, full short, or .5 ohms depending on the price of tea in china. I've actually felt an intermittent miss off and on since WCBF (starting Saturday night on the way back to KOA from the show 'n shine). Makes me wonder......the high resistance wires will cause an intermittent miss, so the coil is a more recent failure.

Always keep a couple spare (from your last set) wires around, and coils, too.
The moral of the story is that even new parts aren't necessarily good, even Taylor or MSD wires. Coils don't always last as long as they should, either. I need to look up the warranty on my coils and get ahold of Jegs or MSD on that.

With the Series 1 (OBD 1), it can be VERY difficult to detect an intermittent miss, unless the TC is locked up, climbing a hill. If you ever suspect it, try this.

bummer.

have you been able to take temps of both sides of your engine since you put in that ram air setup, so you can compare the temps on the cooled side to the back of the motor?

Is there noticable performance gains with these products over good ole AC Delco wires and coils? I did a tune up on my F150 about one year ago and maybe 6,000 miles and it started running like crap. The cause was cheap Advanced Auto plug wires.3 wires melted. I put all new Motorcraft wires and cap& rotor and shes running like a top.

Wow. Bad wires, eh? At first, I was thinking plugs were too cold.

willwren will tell you that he feels slightly more power throughout the RPM'*, and that it'* really noticable at higher RPM'*, but there are some seriously modded 3800'* out there on stock coils. They're plenty powerful. General rule of thumb i've heard tossed around here is this: if you want some nice red coils to spruce up your engine compartment, or if you already have to replace a stock coil due to failure, check out the MSD'*...

OEM parts are always better than the cheap crap at your favorite outlet. For our applications, the MSD 8.5mm Superconductor wires and the Taylor Spiro-Pro 8mm'* are widely regarded as equals and good performers.

The 97-current SSEi'* and GTP'* get a hotter coil than all other models/years (including the 97-current SE, SLE, and SSE). So for the NA 97+ guys, going to the 97+ SSEi/GTP coil OR the MSD 8224 coil, with the proper plugs and wires to back it up, will provide an obvious improvement in mid-high rpm hp. It really smooths the mid to upper bands out.

This is what I'm talking about.....most of the 'heavily modded' 3800'* are 97 or newer. They already have the hotter AC Delco OEM coil, equal to the MSD 8224 in spark energy.

The TR6'* have been performing nicely in my car for almost 6 months, even though the first set was gapped to wide. I may be able to fall back to the TR55'* with the water injection, though.


The back side is always hotter, which is why rear wires fail first generally. In this case, I'm assuming I had 2 bad Taylors out of the box. This set was installed by driverjohn and I only 2 weeks ago. And one failed on the front. My overall engine bay temps are lower with the fan override and ram-air cooling, but the back is still hotter. Probably cooler than most now, though.

Sounds like another reason for your mid to low 15'*.

Correct. Intermittent misfire on 2 cylinders. Or at least low spark voltage on both (#5 and #4). These wires were installed the day before we hit the track. The coil failed yesterday, with no warning.

When the fan is blowing, all that hot air has to go towards the back of the engine. Either you're driving over the taylors before you install them or something'* fubarring them up. Where did you order them from? Most 3.8 sets are custom cut i believe.

No wonder you're track times were less than what the G tech said. Go back to the track and run some 14'*.