I’m having issues with radio reception even with the plastic static shield in place. So I bought a set of new wire wound plug wires from Rock Auto. They are brand name and cost a very reasonable $53 CDN or about $39 US. Hopefully they are as good as others listed for $100 or more.
Old wires pulled and marked for location.
New wires matched to old wires. Most are longer except for #7 which is about the same. The new wires don’t have the usual ends with knobs to fit the distributor cap cover.
The right side was the most difficult. I needed to drop the starter a bit to get access to the screws holding the stainless steel plug wire cover – yellow arrow pointing to the detached bracket. Fortunately I didn’t need to detach the starter leads. Once out of the bell housing it dropped down just enough. Still a pain in the butt. For those not in the know #2 and 4 and #1 and 2 wires are routed along the side of the block behind the exhaust manifold and are protected by stainless shields – just noticeable where the red arrow is pointing.
To keep the original look I wanted to use the distributor cap cover wire holding bracket. I had to modify it to completely remove a lip on the underside so it would rest on top of the new wire connectors. Also the plastic static shield attaches to the front of the cap cover.
Cap cover in place. I started the engine and happily I didn’t mix up any wires. Now for a bit of a test drive to see if they suppress some, a bit or none of the radio static without the static shield in place.
Took a test drive and as many of you will expect, the radio didn’t work so back to the static shield.
The original silver covering on the inside was quite worn so I used a roll of aluminum duct tape to redo the covering.
It is a bear to get in place. Especially the right side as the shield has to squeeze around the trans dipstick and then behind the bracket on the back of the block that holds the plug wires. The copper bracket – arrow – grounds the metal covering on the static shield to the block.
Now for another test drive.
No real joy. Once the engine is running I can only pickup one station with a strong signal – CBC. Reading up on it all I have done everything right for the setup. But, my static control on the radio’s incoming power supply is original and may no longer be working. So I’ll replace that this winter and also add a static controller to the radio’s antenna lead.