New Plug Wires...What A Difference!
 

Changed my plug wires last weekend. The 80k mile ones were pretty tapped out.

Got out my multi-meter to check old vs new. Old ones were all about the same, 345 ohms. The new ones checked at .850-ish. What a diff! It starts, idles, and runs great. It really helps on the cold mornings.

I know it's a no-brainer, but it's the biggest difference I've ever seen simply changing out plug wires. A well-spent $35.

:)

What brand of wires is it? I still have my stock one's on at 70,000 miles.

Yeah, what brand? I've 98k on mine and 35 bucks sounds pretty good.

I assume these were installed on your 98 Z?

Hmmmmmmmmm...never thought about using my multi-meter to check my wires :)

What about changing your plugs...?

I got mine from Advanced Auto Parts, Part #97009, Autolite Professional Series. They didn't have them on the shelf and I had to wait a couple of days. $35 and change. They were an inch or two longer than the older ones, and fit the into the metal shields perfectly. They come pre-lubed with some dielectric grease, but I got one of those little pouches at the counter for extra. I didn't use it up even though I gooed 'em up pretty good.

I changed my plugs last year without changing the plug wires. I didn't have the cash and it seemed to run fine so I just did plugs. Normally I'd do both at once but I didn't in this case.

It was the first time I've checked wires with the meter so I'd never been able to quantify the difference before. I was pretty surprised at how large the difference was between the old and the new.

Forgive my ignorance, but does not higher ohms mean greater resistance? And, is that a good or bad thing?

I just changed my plugs (iridiums) this past Sunday but not the wires. 67000 miles on the plugs. They looked worn down a bit, but not terrible. I notice no performance difference, but I did notice it running smoother when first starting up on really cold mornings. I guess I should be changing my wires in the next couple of weeks.

From the advert for Granatelli plug wires at Jegs.Com:
" Hi-Performance Plug Wires. Granatelli Hi-Performance Spark Plug Wires exhibit near 0-ohm resistance with RFI/EMI outputs less than O.E. "

Granatelli seems to think having low resistance is a good thing. From my research I find that different resistance factors may be right for different different autos. I don't know what the factory requirement is for LS1s but I'll search around for a while to see if I can find that number.

the closer to 0 Ohms the better. I guess basically the higher away from 0 you go the less of a connection you have. There is more to it but thats basically how the resistance thing goes.

Well, think about it, more resistance = less voltage getting to the plugs = less spark output. Therefore, less resistance = greater spark :)

^ Couldn't have said it better myself

I think he said 345 ohms vs 0.850 ohms (see the decimal point).

ahhh...good call on that one. :hail:

decimal or not 345 Ohms, somethings up!!!!!!! :eek2:

Not really...thats about average for stock old plug wires.

Those old wires were stiffern' a ol' dead dog, though not nearly as smelly. Dusty. Dirty. Brittle boots. It wasn't pretty.

Oh crud. I absolutely did not see that decimal point. Suddenly, things make a lot more sense, except the 345 ohm deal. That is incredibly high resistance.
Gonna order a new set o wires in a few minutes. Autozone carries the 35.00 set. I'll pop an ohm meter on both old and new and post back in a couple of days.

yea the plugs make a big defference after a few thou miles

You might want to pop the ohm meter on them before you buy them, in somecases the autozone ones have a good amount of resistance from the start