I thought I'd give some folks some insight on this experience I had in hopes of saving someone else some headaches. I recently ordered the universal spark plug wires from Taylor to go over the valve covers. Didn't care for them at all. So much, in fact, that I ditched them and ordered some MSD 8.5 universal wires, and wow, what a difference!

The MSD kit comes with the opti ends already terminated, so all you have to do is the spark plug end of the wires. Which in my opinion, makes the 90 degree boots a WHOLE lot easier to put on the wires. The center conductor of the wire is thicker but obviously only by .5 mm...but it just seems like a better quality material than the Taylors. The wires also came with a vise style crimper/stripper that was just genious. It was very easy to strip the wires without having to worry about scoring the center conductor. Even the crimping was a breeze with this gadget ( which is included in the wire set. )
In addition to all of that, the MSD's came with instructions regarding testing of each of the wires before installation with an ohm meter. So, you know the wire is good or bad before you put the wire on the car. The instructions stated that for every foot of wire, there should be anywhere from 40-50 ohms of resistance. So, for example, if you have a wire that's 3 foot long, your ohm meter should read somewhere in between 120-150 ohms of resistance.

I'd recommend this set to anyone interested in doing their wires over the valve covers. It's a little more pricey than the Taylors, but a real night and day difference in quality, and installation. Hats off to MSD.

 

What brand looms fit the 8.5mm wires?? I need a set and heard bad things about the Taylors myself.

Jeff D.

 

I used the "made for you" kit and it worked just fine. The "made for you" kit also fits 8mm as well as 8.5mm.

 

Thanks for the reply

Jeff D.

 

I know this is an old post but i was searching for info on an MSD OVC kit.

This review is very nice but sort of useless as it has no real info on - part numbers, cost, supplier, is it an all together kit or seperate parts, part numbers of looms, cost of looms and so forth.

just my rant for others that make "review" posts - please include some market info as well

Jon - I'm happy your happy and I'm convincesd that MSD OVC is the way to go - now I just need to find out where, how and how much

 

The kit comes with the wires, the 90 degree boots, the crimper (vice), and the instruction manual. The looms were purchased separately though. I don't know the exact part number but they're in every Summit catalog I've ever seen. It is the 'Made for You' kit that will work with the '93-'97 LT1's. If you wish to replace your spark plugs, it'd be a good time to do that. But they are not included. I can try and hunt down some part numbers if you like.

I got my kit from Summit racing. Now it was almost a year ago now, so their part numbers may have changed. Personally I could not find the actual kit on their website. I had to call them and tell them exactly what I was looking for. They were able to find it okay though. The cost for the kit at the time was around $70 I believe. And the looms were a separate cost. I haven't checked but some other companies might be selling it cheaper by now.

If you have any questions, e-mail me....I'd be happy to help.

 

The part numbers are:
MSD part number: 32139
Or summit part number:MSD-32139
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...rt=MSD%2D32139

 

my msd 8.5 wires were drying and rotting out near the connector,they are pretty new. my surging and slight miss i feel i think is because the wires .I ordered the taylor otvc set and they should be here today

 

I had to drill out my "made for you" looms because they were pinching the MSDs. I agree though, the MSD wires are infinitely better than Taylors!

 

1 more thing if you have headers

use heat shields and do em so the wires do not touch anything.

even w/ the heat shields, should have an air gap everywhere

i burned 1 or 2 wires on my first set of MSD 8.5mm

then MSD 8.5 OVC... no problems over 6 months

 

does the summit kit include the crimping tool?

 

Yes...it's part of the kit as supplied by MSD.