Hi. First post so go easy.
I am now the proud owner of an AK 427 with 350 Chevy engine with side pipes.
I noticed that the boots on the HT leads for cylinders 3 & 5 are touching the exhaust header and have melted.
The current leads are Maxfire Ultra Spark 50. I need to replace the two damaged ones but I'm really struggling to see how I am going to get the new lead and boot onto the plugs without the boot touching the header it is so tight in there.
This can't be a problem unique to my car. Any advice on what the best leads are and also how I protect them from the heat of the header given the lack of space?
Thanks
I have some boot protection covers and have been running with them for years.
https://www.designengineering.com/titanium-protect-a-boot-and-wire-kit-2-cylinder/
Similar to these.
You will have to check then condition every so often as if the boot does burn through (unlikely with protection) then you could suffer from cross fire which could destroy the engine, but that is an extreme possibility even without the protective boots.
Funk Motorsports . Great company and in the U.K.. They have many solutions for heat management and it is quality.
https://funkmotorsport.com/product/wire-protection-sleeving/
The HT leads on my AK used to run in between and then along the top over the exhaust manifolds and were getting fried and starting to disintegrate and split. So I made up some long 10mm High energy race performance cables and routed them down wards ,well away from the manifolds ( see photo) . I fitted high temp right angled boots and covered the cables in the long sleeving as per Jon's suggestion. As these engines produce a lot of heat, I also wrapped the manifolds in DEI Titanium Exhaust Wrap, which vastly reduced the engine bay temps. I have had no issues with the leads since. Lot of work ,but it gives you peace of mind :)
Thanks guys.
I'm definitely going to replace the leads and will give them a full treatment in terms of heat protection.
Any advice on manufacturers for the leads?
There seem to be so many available ranging vastly in price.
Second on Funk Motor sport for heat management stuff and the lead boots, Have a set on mine with rams horn headers they're not touching but very close and the covers work perfectly
Sorry , i was at the Ragley Hall Classic car show all say yesterday. I'm currently working on the hood, when i get chance i will dig out the invoice for HT leads .
I have trawled all through my invoices and for some reason the invoice is not there ,but having had a second look at the leads, it says "Formula Power - 10mm High energy Performance race cables" on them ::) .
So it must be these guys https://www.formulapower.com/
I seem to remember giving them the lead lengths i required , but asked them to leave the boots off so i could slide on the high temp sleeving .
HTH
Thanks for your help guys.
New leads from Formula Power with heat protection from Funk will be ordered up this weekend!
Hopefully I can squeeze the tight boot over the plug and still get the heat protection in between the boot and the manifold.