Lightspeed Wire Lengths?

[szicree]

I tried to route my plug wires today and must be missing something. My LSE ignition came with 4 wires: 2 short and 2 long. The shorties are exactly the same length and so are the longies. The shorties are just long enough to reach from cyls 3 and 4 to the left and right coils, respectively. Problem is that 3 and 4 are supposed to be wired to the same coil. What gives?? Can anybody tell me how long the wires are supposed to be cuz I think I simply have the wrong parts.

[dan]

Steve,

The wires shipped with my LSE Plasma II system didn't fit to my satisfaction. Too long, too short, etc. I ordered custom-length wires. Klaus' price on custom wires was pretty good...easy to rationalize at the time.

But I have since taken to making my own wires. I bought bulk MSD 8.5mm wire, terminals, boots, and the little MSD cut/crimp tool. Well worth it. Now I make my own, and obviously the lengths & clockings are dead on. Highly recommended.

[AlexPeterson]

I also had to send back about half of the wires - they really don't work with the lower plugs. I don't think the original ones I got would reach without the baffles. At that time (a year and a half ago) Klaus would exchange them for different lengths. I often wondered how many different customers go the same plug wires...

I will make my own if I need replacements (when).

Alex

[szicree]

I appreciate the advice and making custom length wires would be cool, but I already paid for the LSE which was supposed to include the plug wires. I don't want to contact them until I know it's not my own confusion causing the problem. When I say they don't fit, I don't mean they don't fit well, I mean they don't fit at all. Is this common with this setup or did they give me the wrong parts?

[638RS]

Dan, Where did you buy your wire and boots? A Google search turned up wire in 25ft and 50ft lengths or and completed wires of different sizes.

[dan]

Originally Posted by 638RS

Dan, Where did you buy your wire and boots? A Google search turned up wire in 25ft and 50ft lengths or and completed wires of different sizes.

It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure I got it from Summit Racing.

[Capflyer]

I went to my local speed shop 1/2 mile from my airport and found all kinds of MSD stuff and kits. I ended up purchasing very inexpensively a boot kit that came with the tool to install them and a few feet off a master roll of 8.5mm wire.

I also found 37deg AN fittings there!

Mike R.

[gmcjetpilot]

What type of wire?

I see the hot rod catalog has three different wire cores:

Spiral
Carbon/Graphite
Stainless (racing only?)

I also see you can get 8, 8.5 and up to 11 mm

Boot wise there are two: HEI and than "point or cap type" boots (which come in straight, 90 and 135).

Does the coil take a HEI type boot or different?

Edit: Thanks Radomir!

[Radomir]

The wire is MSD Superconductor 8.5mm

[Gsuit]

Sorry for the very late addition to this post - but I had an issue turn up tonight.

I too have LSE plug wires that are too short. But I've been using them during my "First Start" and "Subsequent Start" troubleshooting. Tonight I made new wires from wire and terminals I bought at Summit Racing. The new stuff is MSD 8.5mm SuperConductor wire, just like the ones that came with my LSE.

I made them to look just like the originals from Klaus... same length center conductor sticking into the terminal and all. My new wires are slightly longer than the originals - maybe 30% longer on the #2 wire.

When I compared the impendence with the original wires I got a surprise. The original #1 wire was ~67 Ohms. The new #1 was ~6K Ohms! This seems really bad... but I do know that in most automobiles, higher impedance is better because it cuts down on radio noise.

My questions are:

- what is the correct range of impedance for an LSE Plasma III?
- is there some secret 'gotcha' to crimping terminals on to plug wires?