pasa

I bought the Magnicor wires off E- Bay for 184.00 and my car idles smoother and runs better. They look great in red. They are completely new and you don't have to reuse any old components.


Dan 1990 928Gt

911Dave

Pardon the newbie question, but how long should the original plug wires last? Is it measured in miles or time or both?

mark kibort

so, what is the concensus here?

I have wires that are arcing now, time to pitch them!! however , i would imagine that the part that attaches to the plug is fine, so are the options a wire set that has one end, but not the spark plug end. i also would like to have the 2 coil wires too, as i was having some arcing from the connection on the coil to the side connection post. (not good, gave a bad miss at near 4000rpm) now its fixed by moving the connection a little, but i suspect this is an insulation issue on the coil wire too.

Mk

Fabio421

From what I can tell so far from the posts is that its a personal prefference that is mostly influenced by how much money you have to spend. I ordered the Excell wires and will look at them and decide if they are what I want. If not I will return them and order some more expensive ones from one of the big 3/5.

BrianG

There has been some discussion in past threads about the life-span of the resistors that are built into the sparkplug wire end pieces.

heinrich

imho, all wires deliver exactly the same spark. BUT the difference is in how long they last. I had never seen such terribly-deteriorated wires as the stock 928 ones. I have however seen MANY nice Ford wires that looked great, lose spark badly. So .... I'd go with cheapest, get two sets, and replace when they die.

Lorenfb

"imho, all wires deliver exactly the same spark. BUT the difference is in how long they last." - heinrich -

That's it! All the hype about a better spark the result of better conductivity is B.S.
The spark current peaks at about 80ma, so bigger conductors is a waste. Plus the
key factor is the resistance of the; coil wire connectors, rotor, & the spark plug wire
end connectors.

6.0-928S

If you go to 'www.magnecor.com' they explain the technical ramifications of all types of ignition wires.
Hammer

MarkRobinson

You guys are missing a key point: Bosch Motronic/EZK ignition systems since '84 (at least) were designed around all 8 cylinders receiving the same spark amps: so, all Beru wires for all Porsches from '84-98 were solid-core wires: 0 resistance. Resistance is set by the 1k spark plug-to-cap connector, and commonly, a 3k resistance manufactured into the spark plug connector. When 928 engines in particular are tuned, its even more important to have a strong, even spark. I SOLD my last 928, having given up trying to find my ignition issue: it was in fact, a combination of spiral-core wire (99% of all wire out there) coupled with OEM connectors: so there was a large "hit" in the amps delivered to 4 of the cylinders with the longest wires: 2,3,6,7. So, spiral-core wires with OEM connectors is a no-no (confirmed with current car), and aftermarket spiral-core with aftermarket (0-ohm) connectors obviously work, but look how sensitive the systems are: I'd rather not have the difference in resistance between wires: I'll stick with OEM & provide the same. Email me if you'd like an OEM set of Beru solid-core wires with Beru brass terminals crimped on: cut to size for the 928: $79 special for Rennlisters, $8 shipping (normally $89)

Lorenfb

"You guys are missing a key point: Bosch Motronic/EZK ignition systems since '84 (at least) were designed around all 8 cylinders receiving the same spark amps:"

There's a minimal amount of spark energy (milliamps of spark current) that's required
for adequate ignition and that's about 30 to 80 millijoules. Any energy over that
becomes a waste and stresses the overall ignition system. The Bosch system is designed
adequately to deal with most wire core types so there's no real issue with cylinder
ignition imbalances. It's all marketing hype. Just buy good OEM types and avoid
the junk "performance" types.

Fabio421

Well Loren sounds the most educated on the subject. Mark , If I had known your wires were so reasonably priced I would have bought yours. I paid $169.00 for the Exact brand wires. They have Beru ends and include both ends of the wire. They are copper core wires and have a lifetime warranty. I guess I will keep these because I already have them but otherwise I would go with Marks wires. I took some pics tonight of the corrosion on the coil wire connector. I will post them tomorrow. I think you will be surprised that they even worked any longer. I think I will notice a big difference.

MarkRobinson

Yep, Looking at Loren's sig, and his post, there's no reason to challenge. Besides, we both state the same thing: OEM is the way to go. I think it's great the Porsche overly-designed these cars this way...this isn't the only part of the car Porsche got right!

Fabio421

OK here are the pictures that I promised. The focus is a little soft on two of them but I think they will convey the severity of the corrosion. Pay particular attention to the remnants of the coil wire that remains on the center post of the distributor. I have never seen one get this bad, ever. And normally I deal with cars from the 50's and 60's.





I picked up all the new hardware last night and will install it tonight.

Zimoludek

Hi Mark, I’m interested in buying spark plug wires for my 79 928 with 4.5 engine. Do you also sell the distributor cup and coils? My engine is not running even and I tried everything at this point minus the ignition wires, distributor cup and coils, my wires shocked me the other day so in the way they told me that they need to go.