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I just finished setting up my new ignition system. Diamond coil pack, Magnecor 8.5mm wires, NGK copper plugs (I had misguidedly put Bosch Platinums in before), and an MSD DIS-2. I have to say, the car really seems to pull harder, especially at low engine speeds.

Magnecor wires seem to have a reputation for being difficult to press onto the plugs. The terminals crimped onto the ends of ignition wires are supposed to snap onto the terminals on the spark plugs. I tried as hard as I could to press the boot on, but it seemed impossible to get it to snap in. I was able to snap a plug into the boot outside of the cylinder head, though.

After much frustration I compared the boots on the Magnecors to the boots on my original wires. They looked very similar, and they appeared to have the terminals at the same place. I stuck a spark plug in each, though, and discovered that the Magnecor wires had the terminals much farther down in the boot than my original wires.

It simply wasn't possible for the terminal to reach the spark plug while the boot's position was limited by contact with the valve cover!

I took a pair of needle-nose pliers and reached into each wire and gave a good firm pull on the terminal until it was at the right position. They all snapped in place perfectly, forming a good seal at the valve cover and making good contact with the spark plugs.

I did manage to ruin one wire boot before figuring this out; I ended up actually pushing it further down the wire and the terminal made some cuts in the silicone coating. I also shaved the boot trying to make it fit better. Silly me. For that one wire I ended up pulling the whole boot off, cutting the wire, re-crimping the terminal, and sticking one of my stock wire boots back on. Fitting the 8.5mm wires through a hole that a 7mm wire once fit in, and tightly at that, was a pain.

Hope this helps somebody struggling with a set of wires... Always make sure that the wires click onto the plugs, or the spark current will have to arc over the space in between before it even gets to arc at the tip of the plug!

I have the 80 series Magnecors (step down from 8.5mm) and I also noticed difficulty in attaching them to the plugs and coilpack...

I always just pushed them down til they couldn't be pushed down anymore...I can't really hear a click since I'm usually making too much noise against something else...

That just might be another reason why my car isn't runnin 100%...thanx for the tip...

No problem, just hope to help out...

You should be able to tell if the current has been arcing between the wire and the plug by looking at the metal terminal (by shining a flashlight into the boot) and by looking at the end of the plug. Look for streaks or scorch marks, or other obvious signs of high temperatures in there.

Hope I haven't ruined a $70 set of wires... I guess once properly attached it wouldn't matter though...

At worst you might have to replace the crimp-on terminals and the spark plugs. I don't know how much the terminals are, but NGK copper plugs are like $1.50 each or something...

If you do find signs of arcing, you might just try replacing the plugs and filing the terminals clean rather than replacing them.

There's a thread over on nasioc about magnecor's. that seems to be their biggest issue.....getting them to stay on.

Once you get them clicked and they are on, they're fine.

Some tips for puttin plugs in, remove the windshield washer tank......just flop it up on the engine......it makes getting at the drivers side much easier.

if you have the stock intake, taking the top of the air box off helps as well.

One other thing to watch for is any dark discoloration at the point where the porcelain joins the metal part of the plug we found a bad one with a HV test unit in #4 on my car and when it was removed we found a very fine line that went almost all the way around the plug the only symtom was a miss at high boost NGK BKR 6 E11.
Al(CO)

I just installed these and found some problems as well. I didn't have any of the problems you guys are describing though. The problem that I encountered is that the plug to coilpack connection doesn't want to stay put. When I press the boot onto the coilpack, it seems to push itself back off a little ways. It still seems to have a decent connection, but I'm worried it won't stay put. Anyone else have this problem?

-Brian

I've only had the wires on for a very short time, so I can't say yet whether that problem will come up.

I did notice that the coil ends of the wires really didn't have any kind of locking mechanism to keep them in place. Moreover, the coil towers on the coil pack itself are tapered, which would make it easier for them to slip off. Seems kind of silly of Subaru to design it that way; the newer coil packs have male ends rather than female ones which, I think, are the same as the ends of spark plugs, so they snap in place just like the plugs do.

Hmm, I guess an ideal solution would be to get a new Diamond pack off a late-model Subaru that has male coil towers and use the appropriate Magnecor wires.

If I have a problem with any of the ends loosening, I'll probably just rig up some kind of ziptie-based securing mechanism, as is my habit.

You can't use the newer coil packs with the male connectors.

You would need to rewire things. The newer ones have the ignitor in the coil pack. Ours is a separate unit.

My #2 wire wants to slip off, but that's the only one...

Where does it want to slip off.......the coil pack or the plug?

The coil pack...

yup, same here...coil pack...

-Brian

My Magnecor wires were a fair bit longer than my original wires. They're also silicone-insulated, making them extremely flexible. As a tiny bit of insurance against their popping off, I gave them a lot of slack just by the coil pack. Maybe this might help?

Try expanding the metal clip a little bit.....

Another thing... The driver's side wires usually route underneath the throttle cables, which kinda twists them into an awkward position. Would they stay put better if the went over the cables, or would they just interfere with the cable?

Ive always worried about having the cables too close to other objects, that it may ground out against it. Do I worry too much?

I know I worry too much, but hell I might just try it and see what happens, those Magnecor wires claim to be very insulated from stuff like that...

Your ignition wires should have enough slack that they're not being pulled out of place by going under the throttle and cruise control cables.

That said, it probably wouldn't hurt to route them on top if you feel like it's necessary, as long as you're careful that they don't interfere with the operation of the cables (and that they aren't mobile enough to cause a problem).

With good insulation on your plug wires, you don't really have to worry about it grounding out through the insulation. I've got 8.5mm wires, so there's a lot of silicone an arc would have to go through. If you have really cheap wires I could imagine a potential problem though.

What about wrapping the wires in electrical tape? Would that prevent grounding?

The insulation on the plug wires is as good an insulator as any practical one... Adding electrical tape around it wouldn't really help too much.

An ignition wire in good condition shouldn't have trouble with spark arcing through the insulation. It's when the conductor deteriorates or when the connections are bad that you have trouble.