My New MSD Plug Wires - with pictures !

[Jan Larsson]

Made up a set of plug wires for my TTA after one of the OEM’s I had on failed (terminal @ spark plug were loose and made no contact) and being 20+ years old I thought I should be driving around with some proper new wires and save the others for shows and photo shoots only.
Picked up a set of MSD Street-Fire Wire’s (Street-Fire Wire Set Multi-Angl plug, HEI, Univ - 5550
) that I could cut to length. Kit comes complete with everything; even a handy tool (that actually works very well) to help cut the correct length and use to crimp the terminals is included.
So cut them to the correct OEM length using a NOS set of wires then numbered them accordingly, routed them identical to the OEM wires with all the bells and whistles as from the factory and looks great.
Plug ends you can bend to anything between 90 and 180 degrees so perfect for anyone like me running a 3” downpipe …. 8mm wires and all made in the USA!
Took some photos for you all … and these are cheap and you can easily build a set in an hour.
Perfect fit, only thing is the OEM metal heat shields won’t work but they should hold up otherwise a heat shield sock can be used and I might just do that on no 2 and 4 ….

 

[Jan Larsson]

Also found this handy illustration you might want to keep around to remind you of what goes where :idea5:

 

[robert lee]

Nice Jan, looks "spot on ", BTW i got the Bat. decal today looks great!

 

[Jan Larsson]

Nice Jan, looks "spot on ", BTW i got the Bat. decal today looks great!

Thanks Robert, I'm pretty pleased with the look as it fits in there without standing out. And thanks for letting be know you got the decal, glad you liked it!

 

[TTAGUY]

Very nice Jan, looks great! Nice and clean, putting on any heat sleeves?

 

[TTA984]

They look really good Jan. I haven't had any heat issues with my msd wires and they been on for about 1 yr. You still might want to put heat sleeves on 2 and 4 because of 3" downpipe. But the rest of them should be good. Hey, you know that anyway!

That is a great looking set of wires, and you can't beat that price either. Good going!!

If you ever run across some of the plug wire holders on the engine, let me know. Mine are missing.

 

[jarredsoon]

Looks great, I always have wire problems with the three inch DP. Your set up looks good.

Jarred

 

[1tufam]

Nice job Jan, Your engine bay is amazing, My friends car with 9k doesn't have
all the stickers and detail yours has. All the fast turbo Buick guys around here build their wires from the MSD kit like yours.

Does anybody know how Scott is doing on getting some originals produced? My Kirban set is holding up, but it is GN gray. Can't wait for the new ones to hit the street.

 

[Jan Larsson]

Very nice Jan, looks great! Nice and clean, putting on any heat sleeves?

Thanks Marcel, I will put sleeves on no 2 and 4 due to the 3" downpipe ... all others I think I will just leave as is .. plenty of clearence around them and thinner than the OEMs as well as 20+ newer technology material (I hope).

 

[Jan Larsson]

Nice job Jan, Your engine bay is amazing, My friends car with 9k doesn't have
all the stickers and detail yours has. All the fast turbo Buick guys around here build their wires from the MSD kit like yours.

Does anybody know how Scott is doing on getting some originals produced? My Kirban set is holding up, but it is GN gray. Can't wait for the new ones to hit the street.

Thanks

Yep seems like the MSD kit is the best choice out there and as you say pretty much all GN guys use them (mostly the 8.5mm set I noticed) and they look great and are made in the USA which I like. But also the fact you can bend the plug boots to fit a 3" DP was key in my selection process.

Not heard anythign about the plugwires Scott planned to produce for us, I suspect the quantity is a problem as there's most likely a minimum run the manufacturer will be interested in doing along with the cost of doing them of course. Maybe Jim got an update for us on this?

 

[Jan Larsson]

Looks great, I always have wire problems with the three inch DP. Your set up looks good.

Jarred

Jarred, this works very well so would recommend it if you need a new set for any of your TTAs !

 

[TTA976]

Looks great Jan. :thumbup:


Joe

 

[Jan Larsson]

If you ever run across some of the plug wire holders on the engine, let me know. Mine are missing.

Mike,

There's a number of wire holders from the factory per attached photos.

You have the bracket on the passanger side valve cover as pictured ... this one is near impossible to find as it fell off the cars ... trick is to bend it slightly so you have to push it down and it will stay there ... I had a few of these reproduced years ago and will have to see if I still got any to part with (in a box somewhere safe). The plastic clip that sits on this bracket (pictured in the GM bag) there's 3 of in total; one on the passanger side set then 2 on the driver side.

On the driver side that plastic clip fits onto the EGR valve bracket and another one sits on the "fork" metal clip pictured and is pushed into a slot on the plastic wireharness cover that runs along the side of the VC ... many times the plastic is broken in this area ...

The you have those smaller clips; one on each side holding just the 3 wires together closer to the coil pack ... you can find these in most autoparts stores that look similar.

Hope this helps. Oh and only GM part number I have for any of these parts are for the plastic clips in the GM bag you see (# 12163608) and they seem to be avalible still from GM ....

 

[markt111]

I know this is an old thread, is the 499 ohm per foot on these acceptable with a stock ignition? is it desired?

 

[Jan Larsson]

Never had any issues with this setup ... can't recall the resistance of the original plug wires so can't comment on how they compare

 

[pont1230]

Looks great man,clean engine bay by the way.

 

[pont1230]

Looks great man,clean engine bay by the way.