New Ceramic Plug Leads - Worthwhile?
Discussion
With regards to socks, I would avoid the cheap fiberglass versions, I found the colour bleaches out of them and their heat insulating properties weren't that great. So I switched to DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots which are made from basalt (DEI call basalt lava rock), basalt is a very different material to fiberglass, you can read about the woven fiber materials made from basalt here....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt_fiber
DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots are expensive, but four years later they are literally like new, I bought the Protect-A-Boots, my MSD Superconductor HT leads and the MSD Pro-Boot Guard from Summit Racing in the States. Sadly four years on the £ to $ exchange rate is significant worse so people may want to look at alternatives, certainly alternatives to the excellent DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots and MSD Pro-Boot Guard if not the MSD Superconductor HT leads themselves which to be clear are in a class of their own.
UK sourced alternatives to the MSD Pro-Boot Guard is the easy one as it's just high temp silicone coated woven fiberglass, Torques sell various sizes on eBay at a very reasonable price....
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Torques-U-K/Silicone-Heat...
A cheaper alternative to the excellent but expensive basalt DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots can be found here for just £2.99 each, so £23.92 for a set of 8, I've seen people pay more than that for fiberglass socks which based on my experience I wouldn't bother with.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TriX-6-TITANIUM-Basalt-...
If the above are genuine basalt, then these are a fantastic price, people shouldn't worry if they originally came from China as the truth is the Chinese will make you anything from cheap as chips rubbish to high end super high quality products, and it's highly likely DEI have their Titanium Protect-A-Boots made in China anyway.
What I would never try to save money on are the MSD Superconductor HT leads, which I cannot stress strongly enough are in a class of one!
Avoid Magnecors, I destroyed mine in short order.... they are overpriced, unreliable and poorly performing, the guy at Magnecor also refuses to honor his lifetime guarantee so it's quite simply not worth the paper it's written on...
AVOID!!!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt_fiber
DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots are expensive, but four years later they are literally like new, I bought the Protect-A-Boots, my MSD Superconductor HT leads and the MSD Pro-Boot Guard from Summit Racing in the States. Sadly four years on the £ to $ exchange rate is significant worse so people may want to look at alternatives, certainly alternatives to the excellent DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots and MSD Pro-Boot Guard if not the MSD Superconductor HT leads themselves which to be clear are in a class of their own.
UK sourced alternatives to the MSD Pro-Boot Guard is the easy one as it's just high temp silicone coated woven fiberglass, Torques sell various sizes on eBay at a very reasonable price....
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Torques-U-K/Silicone-Heat...
A cheaper alternative to the excellent but expensive basalt DEI Titanium Protect-A-Boots can be found here for just £2.99 each, so £23.92 for a set of 8, I've seen people pay more than that for fiberglass socks which based on my experience I wouldn't bother with.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TriX-6-TITANIUM-Basalt-...
If the above are genuine basalt, then these are a fantastic price, people shouldn't worry if they originally came from China as the truth is the Chinese will make you anything from cheap as chips rubbish to high end super high quality products, and it's highly likely DEI have their Titanium Protect-A-Boots made in China anyway.
What I would never try to save money on are the MSD Superconductor HT leads, which I cannot stress strongly enough are in a class of one!
Avoid Magnecors, I destroyed mine in short order.... they are overpriced, unreliable and poorly performing, the guy at Magnecor also refuses to honor his lifetime guarantee so it's quite simply not worth the paper it's written on...
AVOID!!!!!
I have a ceramic set on mine, have done circa 6k on them including Le Mans last year and numerous sopping wet trips. They are fiddly to put together but work really well. They are a snug fit on the plug but a good grip on the ceramic part and some gentle twisting brings them off no worries. I’d get another set happily.
Edit:
Should say I got mine from the US, Summit racing sell Accel 9000 leads IIRC. Don’t know if these are the same as the ones on Racetech.
Edit:
Should say I got mine from the US, Summit racing sell Accel 9000 leads IIRC. Don’t know if these are the same as the ones on Racetech.
Edited by Harveybw on Saturday 21st April 21:19
Being a new owner i have read a lot of posts regarding HT leads etc. The cost of new leads £100+ new socks £100+
Well being from Yorkshire with a Scots mother & knowing that most of you already have leads & socks i drew my own conclusion.
I bought standard bosch rover HT leads & i bought a lenght of 1000 deg C heat proof material tube from textile technologies S-TEX-TS/20 at £15 a metre. I used double thickness as belt & braces & you have to stitch or sew your own ends. I did try sundley socks off fleabay that went black & crispy before the engine was warm. The s-tex has resisted fire & the heat gun. Time will tell all i have to loose is a £20 set of HT leads.
Well being from Yorkshire with a Scots mother & knowing that most of you already have leads & socks i drew my own conclusion.
I bought standard bosch rover HT leads & i bought a lenght of 1000 deg C heat proof material tube from textile technologies S-TEX-TS/20 at £15 a metre. I used double thickness as belt & braces & you have to stitch or sew your own ends. I did try sundley socks off fleabay that went black & crispy before the engine was warm. The s-tex has resisted fire & the heat gun. Time will tell all i have to loose is a £20 set of HT leads.
Sardonicus said:
We should consider ourselves fairly well off on the HT lead front 
compared to the old school Chevy V8 boys the plugs are located even worse due to the angled/skewed valve location and the Big Block engines are worse due to having even larger ex primary tubes ... 
That's why our Yank made leads last Simon, they're designed for serious abuse from the outset compared to the old school Chevy V8 boys the plugs are located even worse due to the angled/skewed valve location and the Big Block engines are worse due to having even larger ex primary tubes ... 
A great photo to make a good point BTW
mk1fan said:
With my sewing skills the cost would be around £300 a set 
Cost me a custard slice. The ends fray & if you dont have a small foot on the sewing machine & a custard slice to hand, better use glue. I shoved an eye drop bottle pointed end first to open the tube. On hindsight i should have got the larger diameter tube to fit over the cheap socks & then i could have had the custard slice.http://www.textiletechnologies.co.uk/s-tex-braided...
http://www.textiletechnologies.co.uk/automotive/ex...
Skyedriver said:
Thanks everyone for your help
I carefully removed the rubber plug cap from the magnacore lead, had to split the rubber slightly to ease it out.
Remade the end and put it all back together.
Refitted the extenders and leads and 2 4 6 & 8 all seem to be firing.
Pulling off one plug cap at a time, I think it might be 5 that is causing the miss but I'll wait until my socks , heat tape arrive and will order a new set of Bosch leads as listed above
Socks from Demon Tweeks as I worry about a lot of ebay stuff from China ( i know, that's probably where they get it from)
Apologies for the interuption
After a week the Demon Tweeks Socks haven't arrived so I Messaged themI carefully removed the rubber plug cap from the magnacore lead, had to split the rubber slightly to ease it out.
Remade the end and put it all back together.
Refitted the extenders and leads and 2 4 6 & 8 all seem to be firing.
Pulling off one plug cap at a time, I think it might be 5 that is causing the miss but I'll wait until my socks , heat tape arrive and will order a new set of Bosch leads as listed above
Socks from Demon Tweeks as I worry about a lot of ebay stuff from China ( i know, that's probably where they get it from)
Apologies for the interuption
The ad says 1 - 2 day delivery but apparently they are on back order 48 days!
Need something by monday!
ChimpOnGas said:
Sardonicus said:
We should consider ourselves fairly well off on the HT lead front compared to the old school Chevy V8 boys the plugs are located even worse due to the angled/skewed valve location and the Big Block engines are worse due to having even larger ex primary tubes ...
That's why our Yank made leads last Simon, they're designed for serious abuse from the outset compared to the old school Chevy V8 boys the plugs are located even worse due to the angled/skewed valve location and the Big Block engines are worse due to having even larger ex primary tubes ... A great photo to make a good point BTW
the ends lasted lasted about 100 miles before burning up but they was cheap and a stop gap to run up the motor before decent MSD ones arrived (Summit Racing) 
but you get the jist TVR are not the only lead muncher 
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