Mad box

John Kissel · 06-13-2019, 12:16 PM

Hope this might help. Years ago at the Gators I was told by the rep. for MSD to change the coil wire from time to time as the conductor will break down. This was discovered when pro stockers were having ignition problems. John Kissel K242

Hacksaw · 06-13-2019, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Kissel

Hope this might help. Years ago at the Gators I was told by the rep. for MSD to change the coil wire from time to time as the conductor will break down. This was discovered when pro stockers were having ignition problems. John Kissel K242

In other words: the internal wire is going bad. Should you not see this with an ohmmeter?

Dissident · 06-13-2019, 03:28 PM

The typical spark plug wire used today in some of the racecars should be a magnetic core with radially wound monel wire wrap around the core. Unfortunately quality is all over the map. Many wire sets do not follow the original French patent of using a magnetic core....problems abound when decreasing manufacturing costs. The coil wire sees more energy per time than do the individual plug wires and over time the wire condition can break down.

Higher distress happens when underhood header heat and wider spark plug gaps are applied.

An easy way to keep track of the secondary wire condition is to log (record) the resistance (Ohms) when the set is new and periodically re-test it and compare to the base log data. Another easy way is to run the engine in total darkness and look at the corona discharge at each end of each of the wires. This glowing corona discharge will grow over time and is a decent indicator of when one should consider changing wire sets.

Regards to All that like this kind of stuff,
HB2
Dissident

pfordamx · 06-13-2019, 05:14 PM

just had this same issue car wouldn't run over 5 grand and was load sensitive ignition box was the problem also 7al2 went to a grid and problem was gone.

06-13-2019, 12:16 PM	#1
John Kissel Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Colt's Neck, n.j. Posts: 349 Likes: 766 Liked 230 Times in 94 Posts	Re: Mad box Hope this might help. Years ago at the Gators I was told by the rep. for MSD to change the coil wire from time to time as the conductor will break down. This was discovered when pro stockers were having ignition problems. John Kissel K242

06-13-2019, 03:28 PM	#3
Dissident Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Colorado hills Posts: 123 Likes: 11 Liked 73 Times in 36 Posts	Re: Mad box The typical spark plug wire used today in some of the racecars should be a magnetic core with radially wound monel wire wrap around the core. Unfortunately quality is all over the map. Many wire sets do not follow the original French patent of using a magnetic core....problems abound when decreasing manufacturing costs. The coil wire sees more energy per time than do the individual plug wires and over time the wire condition can break down. Higher distress happens when underhood header heat and wider spark plug gaps are applied. An easy way to keep track of the secondary wire condition is to log (record) the resistance (Ohms) when the set is new and periodically re-test it and compare to the base log data. Another easy way is to run the engine in total darkness and look at the corona discharge at each end of each of the wires. This glowing corona discharge will grow over time and is a decent indicator of when one should consider changing wire sets. Regards to All that like this kind of stuff, HB2 Dissident

06-13-2019, 05:14 PM	#4
pfordamx Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 214 Likes: 3 Liked 7 Times in 5 Posts	Re: Mad box just had this same issue car wouldn't run over 5 grand and was load sensitive ignition box was the problem also 7al2 went to a grid and problem was gone.