From: "Marc L. Summers-SysAdmin" <marcs@tdd.hbo.nec.com> Subject: Detailed Instructions for Jacobs wires To: uunet!validgh.com!mr2-interest@uunet.uu.net Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 8:19:13 PDT Detailed Instructions to Order, and Install Jacobs spark plug wire set for a 1993 MR2 turbo WARNING: as with any of my detailed instructions, "What you do to your car, is what you do to your car." Purchase Detail: First off I would highly recommend talking to either William or Dan, and mention my name Marc Summers when you make your order. That way they can look up my order information on their computer and hopefully get it right the first time. Also Mike Pittelkow mikep@diane.csg.mot.com has purchased the same wire set from Jacobs that I have so if Mike doesn't care, you could also reference his order. Oh yes, Mike, if you have a chance to read all of this, and I left something out, please jump in and correct me. :^) Thanks. Jacobs SALES ONLY #: 1-800-627-8800 Specifically ask for William Jacobs TECH LINE #: 1-800-825-3345 Order Detail Exactly As It Appears On My Pick List: Quantity Part Number Description Price ordered ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 400507 7mm ST WIRE LEAD 19 inch $11.25 1 400507 7mm ST WIRE LEAD 24 inch $11.25 1 400507 7mm ST WIRE LEAD 27 inch $11.25 1 400507 7mm ST WIRE LEAD 30 inch $11.25 100 W/N STYLE PLUG BOOTS 100 W/T STYLE DUST COVERS 100 W/O PERMA BOND 100 W/#13 DIST END 100 SEE DAN BEFORE SHIPPING 100 REF 151447 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL $45.00 + shipping what ever it costs to where you live. Additional details: Even though it says on the order 7mm wires, they are really 8mm wires. (Go figure.) THINGS TO SPECIFICALLY ASK FOR: 1. Make sure you ask specifically for "Energy Core Wire" NOTE: if you think you will have any problem with even the slightest amount of static then order the Jacobs Ultra Supression Wire instead. I had no problem with static, with the Energy Core Wire. 2. Make sure you ask specifically that the top rubber piece of the spark plug boot, NOT be perma bonded to the wire. NOTE: Jacobs only has two types of boots, the proper ones are where the wire comes directly out of the center of the boot top hat piece, NOT the right angle ones. The right angle ones are too small. 3. Specifically ask that they include one tube of perma bond so that you can seal up the wires after you have them installed. (NOTE: this tube should be free of charge) 4. Make sure that they understand that the distributor end terminals MUST BE #13 5. Make sure that they understand that the distributor end boots must be right angle boots. 6. Make sure that they specifically understand that the boot center shaft must be the hard center shaft, not the soft ones. 7. Depending on what type of ignition you have or if you still have a stock ignition, you will have to measure the size of your ignition coil to distributor center wire. The length must include not only the length of the wire itself, but the length of the terminal ends, as though the entire wire were laid out completely flat and measured end for end. 8. For those that followed my previous installation instructions for the Jacobs OmniPak, then the Jacobs OmniPak to distributor center wire is 13 inches long with #13 terminal on the distributor end (both right angle boots). NOTE: for those that want every single miliamp that you can possibly get with out going full racing mode, then ask for the Coil to distributor wire to be solid core. NOTE: also that this will increase the amount of static that shows up on AM radio, and if you have a scanner it will show up on that, but it doesn't show up on strong FM stations, simply because they are FM ie.(frequency modulated), and it doesn't show up on the CD player, or the tape player. And it (so far), doesn't bother the on board electronics. Tools required: pair of scissors small pair of pliers Jewelers saw, or fine blade hack saw tube of perma bond from Jacobs Wesleys Black Magic small rag Q-tips optional: small piece of 100 mile an hour duct tape. Other parts purchased: I purchased a wire loom set you can get them most anywhere almost all performance shops have them. Specifically I used one 4 wide, one 3 wide and two, two wide holders. They are Moroso. You could also purchase them from Jacobs if you wish, but I didn't happen to like the ones Jacobs had. And the Moroso ones match the color of the blue wires. The holders are simply a blue plastic with the word Moroso on them. You could put in a more elaborate loom system, but I didn't see anything that would easily fit in the space, or very many places to attach anything without getting in the way of something else. I order the looms from ASAP, if you need their 800 number please feel free to ask me, I don't have it with me righ now or I would list it here. Installation details: With one of the wires in hand, you will observe the large "top hat" rubber piece at the top of the boot, carefully slide it off the top of the hard plastic (bakelite), center shaft. Now looking at the top of the center shaft you will see that there is a part of the shaft that is above a rim, the rim being about 1 inch, plus or minus, down from the very top of the shaft. What you need to do on each of the shafts is to cut the top part off at the TOP of the rim, thus leaving the rim intact. I used a jewelers saw, which can be purchased at most good hardware stores, in the section where they have the deremel tools along with the small jewelers screw drivers and other such tools. Very carefully, taking great care not to damage or cut into the wire itself, partly cut into the shaft top, working your way around the top of the shaft, cutting only partly into the material. Once this is done then take the pair of pliers and break the top piece off. If you have cut sufficiently deep enough into the material then this top piece should just break right off. If you are overly concerned that you might accidently cut into the wire, then I would suggest forming some kind of sleeve out of cardboard or plastic, or some other flexable material that would provide a sufficiently hard enough surface to ward off an accidential slip of the blade. Proceed to cut the tops of the center shafts off on all four wires again making sure that you have left the rim intact on the shaft. NOTE: at this point you may want to perma bond the top hat piece to the rim of the hard center shaft. I didn't, but it would probably make the entire assembly more secure, I think I will pull mine and perma bond them. Now on each wire, press the large top hat piece back down onto the rim. The rim of the hard shaft should go up into the top hat piece. Make sure you press it on as far as it will go, this will ensure that the boot will fit just right when installed on the car. If you receive your wires as I did then the rubber piece that goes over the spark plug itself will not be perma bonded on either. So you will need to perma bond these rubber end pieces on to the spark plug end of the shaft. Simply pull the rubber end piece off and with a Q tip or something similar, dab a little of the perma bond onto the end of the rubber piece, getting it down in between the inner and outer side walls of the rubber piece, then slide it onto the end of the shaft and wiggle it around a little making sure that the perma bond spreads out fairly evenly over the inside of the rubber piece. I would let this setup for at least a few hours before installing them on the car. After the perma bond has setup, we are ready to actually install the wires on the car. I started with the shortest wire which is the one closest to the drivers side of the engine. Remember, unless you have memorized where the wires go, then I would suggest removing only one wire at a time. So remove the stock wire, meaning the shortest one and set it aside. Now locate your Wesleys Black Magic and a small rag, dab some Wesleys Black Magic on the rag, and then smear it on the top hat piece where the section of the top hat inserts into the spark plug well. This will make it much easier to insert and remove the spark plug boots. Now take a Q-tip and dab some Wesleys Black Magic on it and smear it on the inside of the boot plug end rubber piece, this will ensure that the rubber piece will not stick to the porcelain part of the spark plug. Now you are ready to press the boot in place. First make sure that the terminal end of the wire is fairly close to the end of the boot, this way, when it goes on the spark plug, the terminal will click down in place and seat properly. Now press the boot down into the spark plug well, and position the top hat piece so that it will slide down into the hole. You may have to push around on the rim of the top hat to get it to go down into the hole. With the Wesleys Black Magic on the top hat it should easily slide into the spark plug well. As you press the top hat down in place you should hear a swoosh of air escaping the spark plug well as the top hat seats down in place. Now position the distributor end of the wire, and carefully press it into place. Make sure that you have centered the terminal as it does not have any type of self-centering mechanism as the stock wire distributor end has. The right angle boot should slip nicely over the distributor terminal end. I have my right angle boots pointing down, but you may or may not want them in that position depending on how you want to loom your wires. Proceed now to the next longest wire, which is the second one over from the drivers side of the car. The remaining three wires will have one additional modification made to the top hat piece. On each of the remaining three top hat pieces, use the scissors and as you look at the under side of the top hat you will see that it has an outer rim all the way around it. Using the scissors carefully cut this rim off each of the three remaining top hat pieces. NOTE: that you are NOT completely removing the top hat piece, only the rim, on mine it was about 1/8 inch thick, such that when the rim is cut off, there is still about a 1/4 flat rim piece left on the top hat. This is more than sufficient to seal the spark plug well. You will quickly see that if this rim piece is not cut off the remaining three boots that the rim on the top hat will press up against other parts on the car and will not make a good seal when the boot is pressed into place. Only the first plug, the one nearest the drivers side, does not need to be cut in this manner. NOTE AGAIN: I want to make sure that I am understood here so I will detail this again. DO NOT CUT THE ENTIRE RIM off the top hat pieces. As you look at the underside of the top hat piece, you will see about an 1/8 thick rim that runs along the outer edge of the top hat. CUT ONLY THIS OUTER RIM OFF, NO MORE. This will leave a FLAT rim piece about a 1/4 inch wide running around the top of the top hat piece. Proceed with each of the remaining wires in the manner just described, replacing the stock wire with the jacobs wire. After having replaced all of the stock wires, and making sure you have checked over your work. Now we are ready to place the looms, if you have them. I will describe how I placed my looms, you may want to set yours up differently. NOTE: before pressing the Moroso loom pieces onto the wires I used some of the Wesleys Black Magic on a Q-tip and dabbed a little on the loom seperator piece, just on the inside where the wire goes. This will make it a lot easier to press the wires in place, and keep them from being damaged or cut. First, starting from the distributor end of the wires, the wires will loop around to the left, some crossing over each other. I placed a four wide loom seperator just before where there is a small rubber hose that crosses just in front of the EGR pipe. I am not sure what the specific name of the hose is but it is fairly obvious. I ran the spark plug wires over the top such that they are resting on the top of the small rubber hose. The four wide loom seperator is just before or on the drivers side of the small rubber hose that runs across the side of the engine. I then placed a three wide seperator just even with the first spark plug hole. I then placed a two wide just after that, and a second two wide just under the air hose on the throttle body. I ran the two furthest wires, the ones on the passenger side underneath the throttle body hose, ie.( the hose that comes off the throttle body and goes over to the pipe that comes from the output of the intercooler. Personal preference: I also placed a piece of "100 mile an hour duct tape" not to be confused with plain old duct tape, because it has a very smooth slick outside surface, I placed this around the hose clamps that are on either edge of the short rubber hose that comes off the throttle body. I was concerned about the wires rubbing against the hose clamps and being damaged. I am sure that plain old duct tape would be fine, but it has a tendency to weather, and may harden onto the rubber hose. So you may want to form some type of shield or you could use several additional two wide wire loom pieces so that they form a barrier between the throttle body hose clamps and the wires. Notes On Removing The Wires: When you get ready to change your spark plugs, and you will sooner or later, then one suggestion, since I have tried this both ways and found that it is easier one way, then I would suggest that you follow the example in the manual for replacement of the spark plugs such that you remove the intercooler connecting pipe and short rubber hose piece (as one unit), before attempting to pull the wire boot up off the spark plug. The third one over from the drivers side, (you know the one), well, it is the more difficult of the bunch, and with the intercooler pipe and the short rubber hose removed from the throttle body, it gives you just that little more room to grab the short stub of the top hat boot so that you can pull it up out of the spark plug well. Another thing that I have found is that a steady even pulling force, rather than a quick jerking force is preferable. Now do a little clean up and check your work, and start your engine up and make sure that everything seems normal, and you are ready to have some fun. Sparkplug NOTE: with these jacobs wires and the new AC Delco RapidFire spark plugs, I have been able to gap them at .035 under 10 lbs of boost, with no misfire. I would suspect that they could be gapped just slightly wider, perhaps as much as an additional .002 and still fire under 10 lbs of boost with no problem. Something to experiment with.