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302 in F150 - spark plug wire issues

D

dhermesc

Well-known Member
Some moron put headers and under drive pulleys on the 302 in my 1991 F150 before I bought it. I'm stuck with both because of the cost to replace but both are causing issues.

The boots on the spark plug wires are touching the headers on cylinders 2 and 6, I learned this when the engine developed a horrible miss. Both were touching the header pipes and it had clearly burned though the boot on #2 and is headed that way on #6. Is there something to cover the wires (asbestos sock?) near the boots to save them? I have a new set of Excel wires with a copper core to install once I get this corrected.

The under drive pulleys are causing a discharge when stopped at stops signs and in very slow traffic - any easy fix?
 
Plenty of fixes, but most things DO cost money.

Header-wrap is good insulation on anything you want to protect from heat. Comes in rolls.

With the under-drive pulley? Most alternators HAVE to spin at 1600 RPM to do anything. Some require 1800 RPM. If your engine idles at 800 RPM, then the pulley ratio - engine to alternator HAS to be at least 2 to 1. Most cars come OEM with a 4 to 1 ratio.

Seems you need to invest in a pulley and new belt.
 
Plenty of fixes, but most things DO cost money.

Header-wrap is good insulation on anything you want to protect from heat. Comes in rolls.

With the under-drive pulley? Most alternators HAVE to spin at 1600 RPM to do anything. Some require 1800 RPM. If your engine idles at 800 RPM, then the pulley ratio - engine to alternator HAS to be at least 2 to 1. Most cars come OEM with a 4 to 1 ratio.

Seems you need to invest in a pulley and new belt.
 
Thanks - I hadn't thought of header wrap, I kept thinking of something to wrap around the plug wire.
 
I drove a 78 camero for a while that came with Hooker brand headers. One of the passenger side plug wires was like that, 4 or 6, not sure anymore. The only fix I found was to replace that damn wire about every 8k miles. I didn't think about the header wrap though. Hope that works for ya. Would any salvage operations around you sell just the pulleys or would you have to by the whole accessary?
 
I had a hot rod 400 in old chevy truck and had the same problem. Mine fit so tight I couldnt get the boot cover on there. I ended up heating the spot up on the header real hot then dimpled it with a ball pean [spelling] hamer. I then had room for the boot. No more problems. Or at least that problem. Had lots of others.
 
1991? Should be easy to find a set of factory pullies at a junkyard, and buy them by the pound.

That's the only way out for the discharge problem.
 
A company called DEI sells sparkplug boot covers. I got mine from JEGS. They work great, have one on my truck now for about 10yrs. No more burned plugwire boot. Installation is a heckava lot easier than fiddleling with headerwrap.
Jack
 
Hello, the stock manifolds on those trucks tended to crack with age so headers may be the lowest cost option. I am sure that I have a set of pulleys at the shop. E-mail me and i"ll see about sending them to you. Dave
 
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