What would be the best Plug wires to buy for a 69 elky with a 350 and breakerless ignition (non-HEI) ? There seems to be many to choose from but what is really needed as far as general specs? What do you have on your rig?

alot of companies make good wires , the main thing is to get spiral core wires. Ngk, Accel & Msd are a few.

The data on Mallory Breakerless Ignition conversion states that I should use carbon core as a required wire. Is that available in a spiral configuration? and what about the OHM resistance value per foot? does that really matter? I don't know if I should just get a medium price set with low resistance value or can I just pick any setup.
Thanks for the info.

"alot of companies make good wires , the main thing is to get spiral core wires. Ngk, Accel & Msd are a few."

Tommy, do the spiral core wires improve emission test results?

A spiral core wire is the best of both worlds. The radio suppression of carbon core plus the low ressistence of a solid core. Lower ressistence means more power the the plug which should lower emissions, more power, etc. To take advanage of the wires, you should run a hotter coil & increase your plug gap alittle. That will lower emissions. Meatball, I have a friend with spiral core wires on his 71 with a electronic conversion & it runs fine. Are you talking about the kit that replaces the points with a electronic pick up?

Tommy, Yes I'm talking about the kit that replaces the points with electronic module. Is this considered HEI after conversion? That's what I don't understand as some wires are for HEI.
Sounds like the spiral wires is what I need.

No, The hei dist. all have a large cap & stock, the coil is mounted inside. Hei uses a different type plug wire connector for the cap than you would need. You still use standard ends for a non hei small cap.

OK now I understand. I don't have an HEI setup just a electronic conversion on a stock distributer so I will look for a set of the spiral plug wires.
Thanks for the info Tommy! :)

I installed a set of Taylor Pro Spiral 8mm non-HEI. (Red). They fit pretty well on my 350 but I wish they were about 2 inches shorter. I guess I can cut them and re-crimp new boots at a later date. They seem to work fine and look good with the crome valve covers and air cleaner. I will update my photo album under 3 rd gen after I install my new carb. :lol:

One thing I liked about MSD wires is they came with a special crimping tool to custom fit the wires. Glad they worked for ya.

i use taylor wiresss

I also used the red taylor wires. i found that they fit real good

I use Accel Wires.

I've used factory replacements and they work ok but get brittle quicker with my headers so I switched to Accel high heat.

I've read a good deal on the spiral core wires but I haven't decided for my self if they're overkill or necessity. I'll probably try them when I get some extra cash some day.

After reading the "Instructions" for the new MSD setup I just got it says that you "Must" use the spiral core wires and goes on to say to "NOT" route #5 and #7 next to each other if possible.

Many experienced mechanics don't realize how important (on SBCs) it is to keep #5 and #7 sparkplug wires away from each other. Smokey Yunick emphasized how important it was and said that many cases of strange high speed misfires are caused by failing to keep the two sparkplug wires apart. Don't ever run these two wires alongside each other with less than 1/2" between them, and if you have to cross the wires do it at 90% to each other. And of course the higher the performance of your ignition system the more important it is.

does that go for hei as well? i've never heard somethin like that

That goes for The Chevy smallblock 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 (or any V8 engine with the same firing order and a conventional distributor) regardles of what ignition--points, electronic, HEI, magneto etc.. Number 5 and 7 sparkplugs are next to each other and they fire consecutively so the chances of a crossfire are much greater than any other two cylinders.

very very interesting. i converted to an hei about 5 years ago and have always had my wires bundled together. what kind of difference will it make by pulling em apart?

By "bundled together" do you mean that you didn't use any wire separators and they are secured together with a tie strap? You should use wire separators and pay particular attention to #5 and # 7. If you had any random misfires or other odd ignition problems this should cure them. GM made the HEI distributor cap extra large so that the terminal posts would be far enough away from each other to prevent random spark jumping inside the cap.

makes sense. thanks for all the info.. time to do some relocating! thanks!