Trying to sort out a few niggling items.

1 Spark plug wires - with female connectors at distributor
2. Spark plug boot heat shields for manifold heat (4 needed)
3. Spark plug wire retainers for under manifold wire routing

1. universal or OEM set ? Brand ?
2. these are used with rams horn manifolds (where to buy?)
3. used to keep wires away from manifold (where to buy?)

For those with F/I v8 ...how did you solve these items?

Also best recommended engine oil dipstick.. The one I have (came with engine) is for use with different style exhaust manifolds..I am using Ram's horn style

TIA

Alyn

 

My lump uses a front mounted OPTILITE. The very "devil" to thread the
HT leads to it in situ. Palpitation only, limited at best visual. Fortunately,
I got it right. Reminescent of my Old Fords with the distributor driven off the cam nose. Same principle.


The HT leads I chose came from the local CARQUEST store. The counter guy touted them as used in his Camaro with a similar engine.


Taylor is a known and respected name in after market HT leads.


I might suggest Rockauto as a source for the "female" ended HT wires?? Just use the donor car ID to search.


My LT1 engine came with some really nice plug boots. Search Rock auto 94 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham.


Exhaust vs HT leads has bugged hot rod guys for decades. There are after market solutions. I suggest JEGS or Summit.


I kept my HT leads away from the exhaust with tie wraps. The original application was very sophisticated and even the GM manual opined that once undone not to be redone!!!


The dip stick that came with my LT1 works just fine with my Ram horns and Sun Coast sourced down pipes.


Carl

 

Great thanks Carl, I will get a dipstick for a LT1... as for wires and clips . I ordered a set of wires that run under the Rams Horn manifolds. ( Summitt) And got some wire boot protectors from Corvette Central.
These are some of the issues encountered using ram's horn manifolds and long wires from HEI. The retainers were used on early Corvettes.
As for spark plug wires,..needed female style connectors on the "distributor" wire ends and the wires long enough to easily reach the plugs - running the wires down the rear of the block and along oil pan to block area - under the exhaust That was the problem ...using old style (pre HEI) exhausts and late (TBI) wiring (distributor has male posts) and getting the right length and not touching the exhaust manifolds.

 

On the subject of engine compartment wiring.. The birds nest..
In an effort to "clean up " some of the tangle of wires around the engine, I realized that one of the contributing factors to the mess, was the fact that the (now departed) Jaguar engine had different locations for various sensor items compared to,.. the GM V8. The big bundle of wires coming out of the right front wing, was in that location because that's where the items the wires connected to, were located .. ie oil pressure, water temp, oil pressure light, tach connection at coil etc. On the other hand the GM v8 had these items at the back of the engine. So the original Jaguar wiring went from the firewall, down inside the wing and came out of a hole in front of the shock absorber then routed back around the engine compartment to the new locations (V8) of the items the wires connected to. What a mess !! (I also have all the FI wiring for all the sensors to contend with)
So I cut off the connecting plugs (engine management plug in extension) and pulled the wires (except the horn /fan circuit), back out of the fender and ran them from the plug on the firewall, along the firewall to the new connecting locations on the GM V8..all now wrapped in that black coiled type wire cover stuff. Worked perfect - a big mess cleaned up.
I feel that one of the negative factors with some V8 conversions are, the impromptu wiring solutions. GOD help you if something goes wrong and you have to do some systematic troubleshooting of the modified wring. Now things I did (and forgot why I did them) a month ago in that area, again make sense. Best of all the wires that were inside the wing are like new (have been protected from engine heat) and the perfect length. I have cut the plug off leaving only about 4 inches on the now discarded plugs. So for those in the same situation.... there is hope.