New wires installed!
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Drifting
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,379
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From: Stratford-upon-Avon
New wires installed!
My new plug wire set arrived this week so I was able to install them today.
Started eagerly at first twist of the key (after a couple of weeks being hors de combat so to speak) and was very smooth on a test run - I'm really glad I've completed the entire ignition refurb (caps, rotors, plugs and wires). Best of all I now have those cool numbers on the leads at the distributors (the ones on what I expect was the original set had long since worn/fallen off).
On an S4 at least the wires are a good example of over-engineering, or at any rate installing them properly took me a few hours. You have to remove the centre bracket (engine shackle) on which are bolted 4 loom clips for the leads which cross over the engine, as well as two clips at the base bolted in to support an oil hose. Taking out the two main M10 bolts was a saga involving bolt extractors!
Then there are two loom clips bolted onto each camshaft cover, and one larger clip bolted on to a bracket by the dipstick. You have to get the routing just right or things won't reach. Not difficult but tricky, with awkward access to the acorn nuts on some clips.
But it all looks wonderfully neat when you get it right. I'm now terrified of damaging a lead if ever I need to look at a plug, and having to do the whole thing over again! I have used silicone grease on the plug terminals and on the rubber boots where they push into the camshaft cover so they don't get stuck and increase risk of damage to a lead.
Thanks to all on rennlist who helped with advice on this job, especially tips for removing rounded center bracket bolts.
Adrian
Started eagerly at first twist of the key (after a couple of weeks being hors de combat so to speak) and was very smooth on a test run - I'm really glad I've completed the entire ignition refurb (caps, rotors, plugs and wires). Best of all I now have those cool numbers on the leads at the distributors (the ones on what I expect was the original set had long since worn/fallen off).
On an S4 at least the wires are a good example of over-engineering, or at any rate installing them properly took me a few hours. You have to remove the centre bracket (engine shackle) on which are bolted 4 loom clips for the leads which cross over the engine, as well as two clips at the base bolted in to support an oil hose. Taking out the two main M10 bolts was a saga involving bolt extractors!
Then there are two loom clips bolted onto each camshaft cover, and one larger clip bolted on to a bracket by the dipstick. You have to get the routing just right or things won't reach. Not difficult but tricky, with awkward access to the acorn nuts on some clips.
But it all looks wonderfully neat when you get it right. I'm now terrified of damaging a lead if ever I need to look at a plug, and having to do the whole thing over again! I have used silicone grease on the plug terminals and on the rubber boots where they push into the camshaft cover so they don't get stuck and increase risk of damage to a lead.
Thanks to all on rennlist who helped with advice on this job, especially tips for removing rounded center bracket bolts.
Adrian
Under the Lift
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From: Buckeye, AZ
I have used the "economy" set. You do not get new sparkplug boots or any of the heatshielding and the way the distributor cap boots attach to the wires is not the same as the original Beru's. I had one snap off too easily and it could not be fixed. Also, it is a PITA to take the new wires, disassemble the old wire set and try to get it all back the same way as original using the old looms. I had to draw a chart of just what went where. And you forego the heatshielding. When you buy the full Beru set, as Adrian did, you end up with a stock confinguration with far less hassle, as well as getting new sparkplug boots and heatshielding. Admitedly, it's far more expensive, but I'm going that way next time.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,379
Likes: 128
From: Stratford-upon-Avon
The full Beru set is very expensive compared to sets for 'regular' cars, but I wouldn't have liked to try to get all the looms in precisely the right position to mate with the brackets, and having the looms in place also makes it very easy to keep track of which lead is which in that it 'forces' the correct configuration.
I can understand that the market for the leads must be tiny, so the price correspondingly high.
I console myself that a lead change is recommended only every 100,000 miles or so so I thought it was worth doing it right!
Adrian
I can understand that the market for the leads must be tiny, so the price correspondingly high.
I console myself that a lead change is recommended only every 100,000 miles or so so I thought it was worth doing it right!
Adrian
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From: Jersey Shore, USA
Adrian,
Congrats. I agree on the cost vs. quality thing. I've bought cars that cost less than the Beru wire set, but for this car it's really worth it and you can tell every time you have to work on it (which in my case has been often: compression check, plug check for carbon, vacuum line re-routing...).
Tomorrow: TB/WP!
Congrats. I agree on the cost vs. quality thing. I've bought cars that cost less than the Beru wire set, but for this car it's really worth it and you can tell every time you have to work on it (which in my case has been often: compression check, plug check for carbon, vacuum line re-routing...).
Tomorrow: TB/WP!
