Okay here's my ordeal. I burned one of my taylor spiro pro 8mm (routed in stock location) when I switched to my Hooker long tubes. I first thought it was a coil so I got an MSD blaster, then I thought it was the opti so I installed a new optispark. Turned out it was a burnt wire. I then purchased billet OVC side running looms and MSD 8.5 universal cut to fit wires. They arced like CRAZY!!! I'm talking blue freaking fireworks. They arced to my dipstick, to the looms, to the accessory bracket in a couple places. I tried disconnecting my MSD box and still they arced like crazy. The car backfired every once in a while (at idle, car wasn't driven in this condition) and when I revved it, it sounded like ***. Keep in mind this whole time, what is very very VERY weird, is that only the passenger side was arcing.

So I said screw it, I went with MSD 8.5 pre cut LT1 wires routed under the header (no OVC looms). The routing is superb, I am also using those MSD wire separators. After all that work over a period of 2 days, the wires are still freaking arcing. Also I am getting an nice fatty arc on my MSD blaster coil (I was using my old taylor coil wire but I never got a chance to check and see if it made a difference but I will do that tomorrow). My whole ignition system is MSD now and I'm starting to really dislike them.

Here are my questions:

1 - What could be causing this problem?
2 - Why is the arcing only happening on the passenger side?
3 - What if I further insulated the wires, would that be a good idea to stop the arcs? If so, what could I use?
4 - Could my brand spankin new GM opti have anything to do with it?
5 - Would it be okay to switch to my old taylor wires on the side that's arcing to see if it makes a difference?
6 - Could the ignition system (blaster coil, digital 6, new wires, new NGK tr-6 gapped at 35, new opti) just be too powerful to contain that high of a voltage level in the wire and only release the energy on the spark plug gap? The car seems to rev up fine and it sounds a lot healthier than with the OVC looms but I'm still hesitant on letting run for a long time or driving it.
7 - Can arcing be dangerous to anything other than the wires that are arcing? Is it even detrimental to the wires?
8 - If a plug on that side was bad, could that cause the problem I am having?

Anybody who has any response that could help me, please share! I'd like to say that I'm in dire need of my speed fix (no not the drug, I literally need to go fast). I haven't driven my car for almost 3 months and I'm growing restless. I want to feel the power again dammit!

 

I would check the condition of the plugs, if they are bad they wont spark and the electricty has to go some where so it archs off the wire, Electricity will all ways follow the path of least resistance. So check the plugs and try switching to the taylors agin on that side if the plugs look ok.

 

Could be excessive gap in the plugs. If you are using the stock AC/Delco platinum plugs, they are notorious for losing the platinum pucks and opening up to 0.075 - 0.100 gap. Once the gap becomes big enough, it is easier for the wire to arc to adjacent metal, than it is to jump the plug gap.

If the wires are arcing, they will eventually erode the internal conductor at the point they are arcing. I saw a very similar problem with Taylor 8mm Spiro-pro's and the MSD-6A, when the plug ground straps got burned back with a nitrous "event".

 

Hmm... I am going to pull the plugs on that side to check them because obviously there is some sort of problem because the driver's side plug wires are not arcing. The plugs however are brand new NGK TR-6 gapped at .035

I will try to check the plug gaps and check them for cracks. Thanks for all the answers, anybody else have anything to add?

 

The ultimate problem was those little screw on caps for the NGK spark plugs unscrewed themselves on 6 plugs. Switched to autolites and no more problems!

 

I have Taylor fire sleeves on my wires and they're really close to the headers but don't arc so I would try them and see what happens. I have the ones that protect up to 1200 degrees and I bought them from Thunderracing.com. Worth a shot at least.

Myles