Which spark plug wire?
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 26,545
Likes: 46
From: Huntersville NC
Which spark plug wire?
That is, which spark plug wire is directly above the little metal door that you use to adjust the dwell? The little door on my distributor faces the passenger side of the car, but also faces the front of the car: I would say the door is pointing towards the right front tire. Very easy to access from that angle! There is a spark plug wire that attaches above this little door, slightly to the right (counterclockwise from above) and that is where the #8 wire attaches. Firing order is correct, ie from the #8 wire moving clockwise I have 8-4-3-6-5-7-2-1, just wondered which wire should be directly above that little door... or does it even matter as long as the order is correct?
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,131
Likes: 4
From: May help you? You can sure as hell try!
It really doesn't matter from a functional standpoint as long as the firing order is correct and rotor alignment is correct. In other words if your car is running now, and timing looks right, you're fine.
Some things to consider are:
The distributor should be oriented so the tach cable does not have to be kinked to connect to it. '68 tach cables are slightly shorter than later years. My cable is nearly straight from the distributor connector into the firewall so this isn't an issue for me. I laugh at the ads for the 90' degree tach cable connectors that are being sold to avoid kinking the cable. These are for inept mechanics.
Also, if you're having to stretch some of the spark plug wires more than others to get them to reach to their corresponding tower on the cap, your distributor and rotor should probably be re-oriented. The wires are cut to unique lengths to account for the different distances from the cap to each spark plug.
I'll check where the #1 wire on my engine connects to which tower on the distributor cap for you tonight.
Some things to consider are:
The distributor should be oriented so the tach cable does not have to be kinked to connect to it. '68 tach cables are slightly shorter than later years. My cable is nearly straight from the distributor connector into the firewall so this isn't an issue for me. I laugh at the ads for the 90' degree tach cable connectors that are being sold to avoid kinking the cable. These are for inept mechanics.
Also, if you're having to stretch some of the spark plug wires more than others to get them to reach to their corresponding tower on the cap, your distributor and rotor should probably be re-oriented. The wires are cut to unique lengths to account for the different distances from the cap to each spark plug.
I'll check where the #1 wire on my engine connects to which tower on the distributor cap for you tonight.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 26,545
Likes: 46
From: Huntersville NC
thanks! 
distributor and wires seem to check out ok... I just changed the wires from the shielded/grounded bigblock wires to Taylor black wires and I was afraid I screwed something up. I am turning my attention to the carb. Engine is running fine but my get up and go got up and went! 
distributor and wires seem to check out ok... I just changed the wires from the shielded/grounded bigblock wires to Taylor black wires and I was afraid I screwed something up. I am turning my attention to the carb. Engine is running fine but my get up and go got up and went!
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,131
Likes: 4
From: May help you? You can sure as hell try!
MJ,
The #1 IS the one over the window in the distributor cap so it sounds like you're golden. The window on mine is facing forward just slightly toward the drivers side with my timing set per Chevy specs. This seems to work well for the vacuum advance and tach drive cable positions.
The #1 IS the one over the window in the distributor cap so it sounds like you're golden. The window on mine is facing forward just slightly toward the drivers side with my timing set per Chevy specs. This seems to work well for the vacuum advance and tach drive cable positions.
