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Cooked My Driver's Side Plug Wires On My Obx Long Tubes!


SS_bnoon_SS

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Soooo, we drive two hours to pick up our new kitty cat... and this happens...

 

First off, I had DEI brand wire heat protector thingies (technical terms) on all 8 wires and all 4 driver's side wires (MSD 8mm wire set) cooked themselves on the header pipes, the two rearward ones were the worst (they actually touch the pipe, unavoidable). Just as we pulled into town it started missing quite a bit. I looked under my hood and could see sparks jumping from all 4 wires, it looked like a laser light show (but without the munchies!!!). The wire coatings had cooked and gotten brittle, even while inside the heatshield boot, allowing the spark to escape to the surrounding metal. Of course it was 9PM in Iowa, so everything was closed or closing. I couldn't find much to work with at the time except a couple of rolls of duct tape and a couple more rolls of electrical tape, so I wound each wire until it was about an inch thick, then slipped the supposed heat shield boots back on. We made it home about midnight... ugh.

 

I had to buy crappy wires (stock replacement 7mm type) to get the truck running while I order some aftermarket replacements today. I put 3 sets of shields on the two rearward wires and 2 sets on the front two wires. Hopefully they protect a little better this time.

 

Has anyone else had this much trouble with wires on the OBX LT headers? Or the old style Dynatechs?

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Yeah...all of this was mentioned in the long header thread about OBX/Dynatech. Most have come up with a solution by replacing the back two plug wires with angled boot/custom wires. Also, you have to zip tie them up and away from the header tubes. You only need about a 1/4" clearance to prevent this. My pace setters have fried two sets of wires as well and I also have the DEI heat shields.

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Yeah...all of this was mentioned in the long header thread about OBX/Dynatech. Most have come up with a solution by replacing the back two plug wires with angled boot/custom wires. Also, you have to zip tie them up and away from the header tubes. You only need about a 1/4" clearance to prevent this. My pace setters have fried two sets of wires as well and I also have the DEI heat shields.

 

So far (knock on wood) 3 heat shields per wire on those back two have kept them OK this time. I think I'm going to use the LT1 wire kit from Taylor and relocate the coils to the firewall (or something like that). That would clean up the engine anyway, then I could get those cool new valve covers from GMPP!!! :ughdance: Now to go practice... "Honey, the guys on silveradoss.com said I need these new wires and these new valve covers to cure this problem..." :dunno::uhoh::lol:

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Yeah...all of this was mentioned in the long header thread about OBX/Dynatech. Most have come up with a solution by replacing the back two plug wires with angled boot/custom wires. Also, you have to zip tie them up and away from the header tubes. You only need about a 1/4" clearance to prevent this. My pace setters have fried two sets of wires as well and I also have the DEI heat shields.

I guess I should buy some heat shields then or do you recommend something else with Pacesetters? Also, is the install pretty easy? TIA

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RacerJJ,

 

You should get some heat shield boots/protectors for your wires, I guarantee you will fry them if you dont.

 

As far as the install goes, I warned you in the other threads about the pace setter install. It is bolt in and goes in easy until you realize you have to have custom pipes ran from the collectors to the exhaust as they dont make any bolt in y-pipe solution for the 6.0L trucks. You should haave your old maifolds off and the pace setters installed in about 3-4 hours. Then you will have to drive over to the exhaust shop with open headers to get the y-pipe made to connect to the exhaust, that is even if you can find a shop in Cali who will touch the truck without cats on it or you have welding tube bending skills yourself.

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RacerJJ,

 

You should get some heat shield boots/protectors for your wires, I guarantee you will fry them if you dont.

 

As far as the install goes, I warned you in the other threads about the pace setter install. It is bolt in and goes in easy until you realize you have to have custom pipes ran from the collectors to the exhaust as they dont make any bolt in y-pipe solution for the 6.0L trucks. You should haave your old maifolds off and the pace setters installed in about 3-4 hours. Then you will have to drive over to the exhaust shop with open headers to get the y-pipe made to connect to the exhaust, that is even if you can find a shop in Cali who will touch the truck without cats on it or you have welding tube bending skills yourself.

Thanks. I am only concerned about the bolt in part of the install. My truck is unregistered and my exhaust shop is more than happy to do the work for me in this case. Which wires were burning?

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heat shields did nothing for me. still burnt through two wires. having the wires custom cut to length by myself worked best for my application. 10k miles since with zero burnt wire issues.

Do you have a part number on those Taylor's?

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I guess I should buy some heat shields then or do you recommend something else with Pacesetters? Also, is the install pretty easy? TIA
you dont need them for the pacesetter coated one bro :thumbs: mine are fine, no problems with any heat Edited by 12'SROCK (see edit history)
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you dont need them for the pacesetter coated one bro :thumbs: mine are fine, no problems with any heat

That's what I thought after looking at them, thanks! I figured I'd just buy some heat shield stuff/wrap just to be safe. Can you tell me what that bracket thing is on the passenger side unit? I assume I plug it with provided materials correct? Also, do I need to do that o2 extension crap? TIA...

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Jeremy(rivierakid) sent me 2 of his msd 8.5 superconductors with a 90 degree bend on the block side and they work great. :thumbs:

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be going a similar direction with long wires and 90 degree boots too. I'm pretty much decided on a carb style intake manifold and will be relocating the coils to the firewall or ??? area anyway, so I may as well buy the long wires now and map it out.

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