Just installed some shorty ceramic coated headers on my '93 F150 and noticed the boot on the spark plug wire at #2 & #4 cylinder is touching the header and has been burned. These are Napa wires with a 90 degree boot. Now the spark is going to the header.

What's the fix here? Hedman recommends either a stubby plug or a heat shield. It also looks like I should run the #4 wire around the back of the head, then up to the distributor to avoid the header collector (which is on top of #4 spark plug).

Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

You could try a heat shield or some thermal wrap on the headers.

 

i use 45 degree boot.. i dont know if it makes a difference.. but with stock manifolds.. ask someone with headers..

 

Ohh I think I was picturing this wrong. The spark plug boots are angled too much and melting onto the flange where the headers bolt to the headers? If so, thermal wrap won't do you any good. I also don't know if you'd be cable to get a heat shield in there with 90* boots. Typically 45* boots are used on these trucks, might I asked what made you go with the 90*?

 

go to summit and look at what ign. wires they have for 5.0 with headers.

 

Sounds like you need different angled boots.

We offer our Live Wires with off-the-shelf part numbers OR you can order them from us and have us build each wire to the exact length you want for each cylinder. Also with the specified boot angles.

http://www.performancedistributors.com/livewire.htm

 

as many above have said you need to run 45 degree boots otherwise they will just melt, all the 302's i have owned i ran 8mm wires with 45degree bends and never had any isues with clearance or burning

 

Thanks very much for all the help. It's was great to be able to get some more solutions going since I have to get this engine running right and this looks like the first step.

I looked at the boots again and I don't think changing the angle is going to do much. On #2 boot, it's touching the header on the back side of the angle, just past where it straightens out to go over the plug. The heat shield, while ugly, looks like the best bet.

I did check out the Livewires and long term, that looks like a good solution. Maybe one of the distributors too! If the boot can take being in contact with the header without burning up, that's the way to go.

Thanks again everyone for the help! I'll start a new thread when I get the codes pulled.

 

Although our Live Wires are tough as nails, you cannot let the boots lay on the headers. Perhaps making your no. 2 wire longer will allow re-routing of it?

 

There's no way I can see of avoiding having the wire touch the header without pulling the wire over. About 1/3 the diameter of the boot was cooked and I could see the spark jumping over. I replaced the wire and used a zip-tie to pull the wire away from the pipe but don't like having the tension on the wire. I also sent an email over to Hedman Headers letting them know. There's enough room to bend the pipe a little more and have it work perfectly.

 

I have a set of Hedman shortys on a 88 F150 with a 351. I am also having the same problem. Another problem I have is the passenger side header has a leak. I have replaced the gaskets with metal gaskets. I am thinking about wraping them with heat wrap. This will void the header warenty but so what at this point. If I hadn't given away my factory manifolds I would put them back on.

 

it could just be the design of the headers is what is causing them to burn, a couple of mine are close but they are also made by MAC

 

The heat shields, woven fiberglass, from Accel help. I'm going with a set of shorty Accel plugs and a set of custom fit wires to see if I can get the boot to survive. If that works, I'll probably be going to the wires recommended by performance distributors. If not, I'll see what I can do to get Heddman to give me a set that works.