Plug leads - current concensus?

[chris.t]

I am now experiencing more intermittent misfires and stalling and so I will be fitting the new coil packs sooner rather than later. As I am not totally sure that the problem will be cured on changing the coils I am contemplating replacing the nearly 20 year old plug leads too. Has anybody got any recommendations/suggestions as to type and where to get them?

[muley]

Chris

Hi. I'd suggest Magnecor KV85 (competition spec) part no 45152

part-box. com list them at £74.42 I think that includes vat?, free shipping, too

usual disclaimers

Jim

[dapinky]

Chris,

How much of a rush are you in?

I've got:-

1) a 'standard' set in the garage which were on mine when i bought it - all good and working when they came off (Red) - FOC
2) a set of 8mm Kingsbourne wires which came from the last group buy via Doug at Hethel (Red) - Not for sale, but if you can get a friendly Coloradian Lawyer to bring a set to Donny to replace them, they can be yours for now!

If red isn't your thing, I'd still be happy to let you have them for now to see if it cures the problem, then if Al can bring a set over, you can have whatever colour you want and I'll have the red ones back!

(All this saves me having to fit anything to Angies car this side of going to Donny ).

I can post if you need them before the big 'D'.

Edit:-

$36.75

Kingsbourne Lotus M100 wires

[chris.t]

Thanks for the offer Dave. If I can get Al to get me a set, I'll take the red ones off your hands please. As i said in the OP 20 years is quite good for a set of leads and if i'm going to be taking header tanks out etc I might as well do the leads too.

Cheers Chris

[chris.t]

Well the coils and leads are fitted, thanks to everyone involved in pulling out the stops in getting them to me, very much appreciated.

I went for a short test run (25 miles or so) and varied my driving style in order to initiate the reoccurence of the misfire. So far no problems have occurred in fact the pick ups very much smoother. It maybe to early to say as this intermittent fault may return as with JohnW but so far so good.

Cheers Chris

[Doug]

Chris, my pointers may be a bit too late, but I'll put them down for the fun of it

--good idea to replace 20 year old plug wires! (Finally )

--use dielectric or "spark plug boot" grease at the ends to keep them from corroding in your great weather over there

--if you want some more immediate difference for the test drive, unplug the car battery to zero the ECU and then you may feel a difference in the performance/smoothness

-D

[chris.t]

cheers Doug, Dielectric grease came with the leads so did that and i disconnected before commencing the work. Must admit the leads were overdue but i was of the opinion 'if it ain't broke blah blah....'. Thought i had black wires too until i rubbed some of the grime off and found them to be red

Chris, my pointers may be a bit too late, but I'll put them down for the fun of it

--good idea to replace 20 year old plug wires! (Finally )

--use dielectric or "spark plug boot" grease at the ends to keep them from corroding in your great weather over there

--if you want some more immediate difference for the test drive, unplug the car battery to zero the ECU and then you may feel a difference in the performance/smoothness

-D

[max and andy]

We are trying to sort some good plugs but have noticed most we have seen are in $. When paying does it come out of your account in the same way as £ do?

[chris.t]

We are trying to sort some good plugs but have noticed most we have seen are in $. When paying does it come out of your account in the same way as £ do?

it's probably best if you restrict your searches to just the UK, otherwise you'll get lumbered with taxes and postage from the US. Unless of course they're incredibly cheap in which case GROUP BUY!

[max and andy]

I want some plugs and have found NGK BKR6 EIX at www.spark-plugs.co.uk but really wanted to be able to get all i need from the same place. The leads at this site seemed to be sold separate to the caps. I want to buy plugs leads and a KN drop in filter. The leads are not giving any problems but are 15yrs old. Which is a good site to look at that we can get everything? Andy & Max

[dapinky]

M&A,

Many of us got our leads from Kingsborne in USA, either as part of a group buy, or individually.

If you only get one set, the postage becomes a little prohibitive to make them cost effective.

I got 2 sets and had them delivered to a USA member, who then got them to me in person (approx £30 a set - but upgraded to 8mm wires).

If enough people can be persuaded to join you, and you find a volunteer in America to take delivery and forward them on, then they should come in at approx £20 - £25 a set.

If there are no volunteers, a group buy would still make economic sence and have them shipped to a single UK address to be distributed. It cost me about £2 to post a set to Chris.t, so it isn't too bad a way to go.

Of course, if you want to go the whole hog and get coil packs and plugs at the same time, then there are deals to be had on boxes which can take 10 coil packs (5 pairs), or perhaps 4 persons with 8 coil packs ,4 sets of leads and some plugs?????

I wouldn't know what sort of total costs would be involved, and you would need both a USA and UK co-ordinator. Either way you should save money compared to UK prices.

[chris.t]

Coil packs work out at about £63 a pair from the states. There is a post by Muley at the top of this thread which refers to a uk supplier. Regrettably they are far more expensive than the Kingsbornes.

[max and andy]

Do you mean the Coil packs come with leads and plugs in the pack? For the one price but you have to buy a number of sets? I tried checking the Kingsbourne thread but i couldn't find any coil packs. I couldn't find any coils. Is there a company in this country that flogs everything from plugs coils filters. We are rubbish at searching through web sites for what we need. I'm worried where going to get stuff for a Morris Minor. Andy

[chris.t]

Have a look at THESE. The leads are connected to the coil packs which i wouldn't worry about at the moment unless any problem you're having is not cured with new leads.

Alternatively, if anyone is coming over from the states you might be able to get them to stash some kingsbornes for a hadful of beer tokens!

[Paul.P]

Andy, ive got a brand new set of red Kingsborne leads sat in my shed i bought as a spare set last year , you can have them for cost if you want, just let me know ?

Paul

[max and andy]

Paul you have a PM. For future reference do the coil pack you have given me a thread to have leads. I didn't quite understand the description ChrisT. cheers Andy & Max

[chris.t]

Paul you have a PM. For future reference do the coil pack you have given me a thread to have leads. I didn't quite understand the description ChrisT. cheers Andy & Max

No they don't come with leads. They are effectively what generates the high voltage for the spark plugs. I changed mine because i thought they were causing my intermittent misfire, turns out it is possibly nothing to do with the ignition. Oh well, I have told myself that on a 20 yr old car they probably would have failed soon anyway. Still got the old ones as back too. That's a great offer from Paul, try not to bite his arm off!

[theelanman]

Paul you have a PM. For future reference do the coil pack you have given me a thread to have leads. I didn't quite understand the description ChrisT. cheers Andy & Max

the coil packs are coils in pairs........the elan has 4 coils and they come in pairs....hence the term coil 'packs'.....you need 2 to cover the 4 plugs
leads and plugs are separate

[dapinky]

M&A,

Let's try and save a thousand words.

coil packs.jpg

The 'Coil Packs' are the bit in the blue circle - but consist of 3 main parts...... a baseplate which the elctrical (low tension) leads plug into and which attaches to the car. Then 2 seperate coils (which are squareish, and if you still have the originals are probably black) which attach to the baseplate. (Green circles). It is the 'pins' on the coil which the plug leads (ignition wires, to the Americans) attach to.

The leads (Red line) go from the coil packs, under the top cover on the engine, and onto the sparkplugs (pink circle). When you get new leads, they come ready assembled with the rubber end-caps, but make sure to use a smear of the special (conductive) grease which came in the packet with mine - it stops corrosion on the end of the plugs, so the leads can be removed without pulling them apart!

On the group buy for coils, we only got the coils, not the coil packs (use the old baseplate - they don't go wrong), hence the reference to 'pairs' of coils, and the apparent requirement for 2 ....... (and they are a pretty red colour, and are better performing than the original ones)

..... just to confirm, 1 coil pack = 2 coils

[tigerdog]

I will gladly coordinate another group buy from Kingsborne. However, if the group require hand-delivery as before, please include the cost of airfare from San Diego to the UK.