Ceramic plug leads - any long term issues?

[Matthew Poxon]

I am looking at ditching my plug lead extenders and going down the ceramic plug lead route next year.

I know a few people have purchased the ACCEL 9000 set from the US.
https://www.summitracing.com/int/search/product-li...

I note that Racetech are now selling sets of these leads, pre crimped and labelled which look good and saves the hassle of importing them.
http://www.racetechdirect.co.uk/car-parts/electric...



I know plug leads are a hotly debated topic but I can only speak of my own experiences. I have Magnecors fitted to mine at the moment, have been on for 6 years with no issues whatsoever. Does anyone have any long term experiences with ceramic leads before I stick my hand in my pocket?

[greenhulk]

I was having a look at these myself, i think the beru plug extenders on ebay are around £90 then a new set of leads.. So im also interested to hear how these leads perform.

Steve

[Richard 858]

I'd strongly suggest steering clear of any plug extenders, whether they're marked as Beru or not, I speak from personal and Dom Tricketts experience!

[butch890]

I purchased a set from LLoyds 6 months ago after getting fed up with plug extenders,engine ran much smoother and so i have had no issues.

[eff eff]

Ran ceramic from the start when the LS went in no issues at all

[Matthew Poxon]

Richard 858 said:

I'd strongly suggest steering clear of any plug extenders, whether they're marked as Beru or not, I speak from personal and Dom Tricketts experience!

This is the main motivation. There are so many cheap substandard copies of these plug extenders knocking around it is very difficult to find any reliable versions. Even some of the expensive ones are still unreliable. Connecting the lead straight to the plug has to be the preferred option anyway as it is taking out complication.

[QBee]

Matthew Poxon said:

Richard 858 said:

I'd strongly suggest steering clear of any plug extenders, whether they're marked as Beru or not, I speak from personal and Dom Tricketts experience!

This is the main motivation. There are so many cheap substandard copies of these plug extenders knocking around it is very difficult to find any reliable versions. Even some of the expensive ones are still unreliable. Connecting the lead straight to the plug has to be the preferred option anyway as it is taking out complication.

Rubbish - they are really reliable.
I only had 6 of my brand new set of Beru extenders fail in the 6 months after they were fitted.
And they were sourced from the best possible supplier.

[ChimpOnGas]

Matthew, another option is to double bag the ends as I have, I first stretched MSD Pro-Boot Guard over the plug end and all the way to its end, then put a DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boot over that (repeat 8 times).

Doing it this way allows you to keep your Magnecors if you like them, just double bag em mate , I've been running my MSD Super Conductor leads like this for over two years without a hint of an issue....

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=143...

The MSD Pro-Boot Guard is quite expensive when compared with what looks like the same stuff on EBay, it's the same with the socks, I just went with the MSD & DEI brand names because I wanted to be 100% sure of their quality.

Dave.

[semaj]

I had 8,yes all 8, new ones crack just over a year after purchase (about 1200 miles) and they were the rip off ones all marked Beru (probably could not write Wan King Auto Parts on them) from you know who! Binned the lot and wife knocked up some HT socks with Kevlar wrap from ebay, total cost £8 and not missed a beat since. Figured we could market them in a TVR packet for £80.00 which is still cheaper than the not Beru extenders. Bitter and twisted, yes as it took bloody hours to sort as I assumed these new 'genuine' parts would not be the problem!

[andy43]

I've got the Accel 9002 leads, Joolz fitted them along with the right coil pack ends when he did my ecu swap. You get two types of coil/dizzy connector in the pack - the leads come bare-ended so you'll need a crimping tool.
Not done more than a few hundred miles so far so can't comment on longevity. Quite a tight fit onto the plugs which I suppose is a good thing - I got some dielectric grease to apply to the rubber inserts on the leads and the ceramic bits on the plugs (don't apply to any part that conducts electricity as the grease is an insulator) and they seem to go on and off ok.
I'd imagine it'd be easy to break a spark plug if the lead got really well stuck onto it.
Drivers side is a slight PITA if you have the two heater pipes next to the head - cylinder 7 (or is it 8?) lead is quite tight to the pipes due to the angled-ness (new word) of the ceramic lead ends.
eta Note the racetech ones are more expensive than importing but appear to be ready made, cut to length and with ends crimped on.
I still haven't decided exactly how to dispose of the old plug extenders, but I'm looking forward to it

Edited by andy43 on Monday 12th December 15:56

[bobfather]

Apparently they are very difficult to remove from the plug end come service time. This combined with the brittleness of ceramic and the awkward angle that it is pulled off could cause significant problems and potentially fractures. Some folk have used a lubricant to aid removal but I suspect even high temperature lubricants will become more like cement after sitting that close to a heat source. Someone mentioned on here that they had made a hook device so that they could pull them off from the bottom

[bluezeeland]

I did the Chimp-on-gas 'upgrade' > thoroughly pleased, it does make a difference, engines runs smoother.....

[Matthew Poxon]

Double bag aye CoG. It has been a while since I have been with a bird that dirty I have felt the need to double bag.

In all seriousness I do think your solution is the best here. The issue for me is I am really not that keen on the look of the socks. The ceramic leads do look quite sexy so I am being swayed.

Hello there

[mk1fan]

Ceramic coating the manifolds would help reduce the heat build up in the area. Thw TVR manifolds are not a great arrangement to move the heat away.

The leads are nice aesthetically though.

[ChimpOnGas]

Matthew Poxon said:

Double bag aye CoG. It has been a while since I have been with a bird that dirty I have felt the need to double bag.

In all seriousness I do think your solution is the best here. The issue for me is I am really not that keen on the look of the socks. The ceramic leads do look quite sexy so I am being swayed.

Hello there

"They do look sexy but could be a massive disappointment if you find you can't pull them off, my double baggers on the other hand slip in and out like a well oiled tool"

See what I did there, it's like the script from carry on camping

[jojackson4]

Done about 3k on mine all good cost about £100 crimp tool £12

[Colin RedGriff]

I had them fitted when the engine was rebuilt earlier in the year and they've been fine so far, 1500 miles in. Half a dozen others in Berkshire have got them as well and are happy with them too.

[andy43]

ChimpOnGas said:

Matthew Poxon said:

Double bag aye CoG. It has been a while since I have been with a bird that dirty I have felt the need to double bag.

In all seriousness I do think your solution is the best here. The issue for me is I am really not that keen on the look of the socks. The ceramic leads do look quite sexy so I am being swayed.

Hello there

"They do look sexy but could be a massive disappointment if you find you can't pull them off, my double baggers on the other hand slip in and out like a well oiled tool"

See what I did there, it's like the script from carry on camping

Slight bit of sick came up there.
Note the racetech photo doesn't show the leads ttting the heater pipes as they've cleverly used a precat as a studio model without them. In an ideal world you'd use the 9002 angled boots on the passenger side and maybe the 9000 straight boots for the rear two on t'other.
I shall comment not on the other pic, must be a Chimaera thing.

[bobfather]

Matthew Poxon said:

Double bag aye CoG. It has been a while since I have been with a bird that dirty I have felt the need to double bag.

In all seriousness I do think your solution is the best here. The issue for me is I am really not that keen on the look of the socks. The ceramic leads do look quite sexy so I am being swayed.

Hello there

Looks like that manifold is pushed up against the heat shield

[ChimpOnGas]

andy43 said:

In an ideal world you'd use the 9002 angled boots on the passenger side and maybe the 9000 straight boots for the rear two on t'other.

Another good reason why I chose MSD Super Conductors, the plug ends on these leads are bendable so you can achieve the perfect individual boot angle to clear each header tube.

The double bagging is really just a belt & braces last line of defence as I wanted to over engineer the deletion of my extenders, which are the spawn of the Devil as far as I'm concerned.

The MSD Super Conductor plug ends are super heat resistant in themselves, custom bent to each each header tube you don't really need the extra protection at all. They're also great performing leads too, for many years MSD Super Conductors have been the go-to wires for most hot rodders in the States... and for good reason.