250 GTE plug wires?

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lukek
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 12:34 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

re: plug wires

Post by lukek »

I just ordered all the goodies from Resto Supply: black Rajah boots (20X), solderless terminals (20X), and some 440 wire (50 ft). Very nice folks over there.
Thanks to ChrisC and others for the detailed advice. I look forward to an evening of dealing with the octopuss igition...

luke, 250 gte, sf, ca
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lukek
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re: plug wires

Post by lukek »

Well....I just connected everything back up and instead of what used to be a smooth running engine, I get snap, crackle, and pop. Looks like a misfire, cross fire, or a missed connection altogether.
I used the solderless Rajah terminals.
I took pretty good notes when connecting things up, but I want to make sure:
Are the connection on the driver and passanger banks symmetrical? It seems like the first cylinder on the pass. side, #1, at the front of the car connects to distrubutor hole #4. On the driver's side, #12, also at the front, conects to the #4 hole on the other distributor. If that is correct, I propably have the rest of the diagram right.
What is next?

1. Maybe one of the connections came apart? Should I yank each wire and check for continuity (check for similar resistance)
2. Maybe one of the wires did not seat, I can plug them all in again, but I kinda double checked that already.
3. I cleaned the contacts on the distributor, put in a new rotor, and even swapped the coil wire. I thought it was maybe the rotor, but I oput the old one back in, and still ran crappy.
4. How important is the exact position of the spirg loaded know in the center of the distributor (coil connection). It seems to not touch the rotor.

Such a simple thing, I managed to bungle it....The hunt continues.
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lukek
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re: plug wires

Post by lukek »

I meant #6 on the pass. side, not #1.
I am pretty sure that I got the connections on the pass. side wrong. I got overconfident there after being anal and labeling everything on the driver's side.

I think I have to find the #1 stop and follow the firing order 1,5,3,6,2,4...
Michael Bayer
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Post by Michael Bayer »

To All:
This was my next project for my 330 GT2+2, and these threads are great! I am printing and hole punching this to add to my FAF Maintenance Manual so my kids have this when, years later, it has to be done again!
Michael
Pete
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Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2002 7:35 pm
Location: Australia

Lukek, definitely sounds like ...

Post by Pete »

...a firing order problem to me. Like you said find number 1 TDC, firing and start there ... follow the firing order and all should be okay.

I can remember working on a v8 Damiler (spelling?) and it ran a little funny after we reconnected the plug wires, but it did not seem to matter what firing order we used :) ... none of our books had this information as it was a little old, eventually selected one ... ofcourse we could have pulled the rocker covers and worked it out from the valve timing. Atleast you know the firing order :)

Good luck
Pete
ps. I always put numbers on the plug end of my leads, but this does not help when you are replacing the leads, does it :)
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lukek
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re: plug wires

Post by lukek »

Done!
But I needed an expert eye. I knew I got one bank right, so I started from that distributor position, and I knew which one was next on the other bank according to the firing order. (I could not find TDC by turning the crank, and I live on a hill, so rocking it in 4th was out of the question, uless I wanted to collect insurance when the car ended up in the bay). But...I misread the rotor position inside the cap and was off by one ! (Which was enough). But now, I put everything back and the car runs better with new wires.
Something so simple, yet so many ways to screw up. Gone are the days when I could play with this stuff for hours, too. My Alfa and I are blood brothers, for example. But with two kids in diapers, the Ferrari might see a mechanic more often then the Spider.

thx for all of your help
Luke, 250 GTE (trip to the ocean tomorrow)
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tyang
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Post by tyang »

Hi Luke,

Congratulations on finding the problem! What's great about these old cars is they're pretty simple to troubleshoot than a computer controlled modern car.

Enjoy the ride today, and think of my car sitting inside waiting for the snow to melt!

Tom
Rudy van Daalen Wetters
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GTE spark plug wires

Post by Rudy van Daalen Wetters »

I recently replaced all the spark plug wires with Packard 440 wire. I soldered all the terminals, matched the correct lengths, routed everything
as original and it looked great. Problem is, no fire on two cylinders. I ran a continuity test and soon found out that the pins in the cap were arched to a point where they had lost their sharpness and not making contact within the spark plug wire. I pulled out all the pins from the caps and replaced the dull ones and now she sings on tune.

Rudy van Daalen Wetters
t walgamuth
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Post by t walgamuth »

Rudy,
Where did you get the new pins?

Tom W
tom walgamuth
pf coupe #1421
t walgamuth
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Post by t walgamuth »

I just looked at my wires. The plug sockets are not ribbed as I had remembered. They are a bit over 2" long probaby and are basically smoothe cylinders, one larger diameter than the other. The metal socket inside is soldered in. The sleeves over the plug seem affixed to the wire but I have not tried very hard to break them loose. There are no boots where the wires go into the dist cap, and from the metal tube to the dist cap there is a solid plastic sleeve with winkles in it that must be 4 or 5" long, no loops as I saw mentioned here.

Tom W
tom walgamuth
pf coupe #1421
Chris Coios

Post by Chris Coios »

Tom, Yes, no boots where wires go into distributor caps for the twin distributors. (If you had the earlier single 12-lead distributor, the cap is different in concept and has boots for the wires). The metal loop with rubber grommet that gathers the wires at the base of the distributor is an outside-plug detail. I think they also used rubber o-rings as an organizing device either side of the loop. Inside plug motors use only the o-rings (and or a sheath?) to gather the wires together. This is all related to the high vs. low position of the spark plug wire tube along the cam cover. I stand corrected if I am wrong on any of this. Chris
t walgamuth
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Post by t walgamuth »

Chris sent me some fabulous pictures of Ferrari engines. They all have orange plug wire ends but they are the same shape as my black ones.

I am going to try to devise a way to test mine to see if they are leaking through the insulation and getting a good connection on the ends.

Thanks very much for the pictures, Chris!

Tom W
tom walgamuth
pf coupe #1421
xs10shl
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Location: San Francisco, CA

Post by xs10shl »

Anyone have a source for the Bosch Bakelite Insulators? A search online came up empty, but I did find this site which had some rubber products:

http://www.etco.com/category.php?type=47&div=ap&l=e

I've gone the Restoration Supply Company route previously, and I'm not willing to do the work again, so I'm hoping there is a supplier out there where I can just "Order, Pay, Screw".
xs10shl
Posts: 209
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2003 6:27 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Post by xs10shl »

I should clarify that I'm looking for ones which are brown or black. I've found some which appear to be orange for about 4 dollars apiece on Amazon.com.
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