this is another thing that's really easy for anyone to do at home in their garage, with the only tools you need, being a bench vice or pair of very large channel locks, wire strippers and a pair of dikes (diagonal cutters). can of silicone spray is nice, but a can of window cleaner will also work. none of the over the counter plug wires fit these engines, that can be found at any auto parts store.. they are a generic set to fit pretty much every V8 ever made, under one part number, and they are always so long, that you can wrap them around the engine twice.. we DO sell straight end stock replacement plug wires (that fit pretty good) to be ran over the top of the valve covers, but for anything else that isn't bone stock, i prefer to use 90 degree end "cut your own" wires. it looks so much better and cleaner, to not have the wires ran over the top of the valve covers.
as far as what plug wires to run, there's more good brands than there is bad ones. take note that bigger diameter plug wires, don't necessarily perform any better. a lot of it is gimmick, and the wire itself isn't any bigger, only the insulation.... and really bulky wires look pretty cheesy... they don't necessarily have less resistance when compared to a 7mm wire. solid core wire tends to have less resistance than spiral core. spiral core is necessary when running HEI or electronic conversions such as pertronix, due to RFI (radio frequency interference.) technically, more often than not, you get a hotter spark with the lower resistance of solid core wires with points ignition, than the latter. those cloth braided vintage and reproduced solid core wires as well as those clear red ones out there, look nice but i wouldn't bother with them on a hooded and full fendered car just because they arn't very durable. that being said, "taylor" makes a modern spiral core thats cloth braided and looks just like the real old stuff, if thats what you're looking for.
the whole process of cutting wires takes 20 minutes max, if youre really slow. first install the distributor at TDC. rotor should point at 8 or 9:00 if you are standing in front of the engine, looking back. its contingent upon how the gear is clocked on the camshaft, regarding which you end up with. number one on the cap is the first terminal, counter clockwise from the vacuum advance, and before the window for setting dwell (on 57 and later caps).
don't cut the wires in the order of the firing order. cut them in the order they will lay on the cap, from the front of the engine, to the back. do one side of the engine at a time. the "part" down the middle of the cap will split between 3 and 6, an 7 and 8. so on the passenger side, start with 3, then do 1, then 5, then 7. on driver side, start with 6, then 2, then 4, then 8. you want the wires to be fitted but you dont want them skin tight like a piano wire. you should still be able to rotate the cap and remove the cap without removing the wires. when you mock each wire, line it up alongside the previous wire. mark a half inch past the cap connection boss and cut it there. use silcone spray or glass cleaner on the boot. slide the boot on while wet. use wire stripper to trip the wire at least a half inch. fold the wire back and slip it into your connector, which then you crimp in a vice with the crimping tool that's supplied in your wire set
