Spark Plug Wiring
As a result of the coil dying on the way home from the Monterey trip, I decided to pull the distributors and have them rebuilt.
One of the distributor caps showed some wear on the inside. It was still serviceable but there was an eBay auction for a pair with new wires and the loom grommets so I got those to use. The new wire, O-rings for the loom and numbers that I already have will get used in the PF coupe. For those starting from scratch, about 40' of Packard #440 ignition wire is needed. Use lacquer thinner to remove the lettering from the wire.
Some of the grommets in the wiring tubes got damaged when the old wiring was removed so I bought new ones (7/16" hole diameter with 1/4" center hole) from McMaster-Carr. They have a variety of grommet sizes to choose from though most come in a package of 100. I need 12 for the 330 and 12 for the PF coupe, so if you need some for your wiring tubes, I've got six sets left over.
I thought that I might have quite a bit of trouble threading the new wires through the wiring tubes and out each individual hole. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have a problem. I found that using a tiny jeweler's screwdriver pushed into the end of the wire through the tube hole allowed bending the wire so it emerged from the hole easily.
I started with the shortest wire and ended up with the last one that comes out the hole in the very end. Of course, you need to make sure that you are bringing the correct wire out each hole. In this case, the wires were pre-cut to the approximate length, so the shortest came out the close hole, etc. I did check to make sure each wire was connected to the proper terminal on the cap. Here's the chart:
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The other things to put on if you are doing all of the wires from scratch are four O-rings (3/4" ID by 15/16" OD) along with the metal brackets and grommets. These O-rings go on both sides of the metal bracket.
Some of the cap numbers were missing on the new caps, so I replaced them with a set made by Lowell Brown. His wife made a Word document using Arial 10 pt font which turns out to exactly match the existing numbers. This is printed on photographic paper and then punched out using a 3/16" hollow punch. I put double stick tape on the back before punching them out. Then I peeled of the backing and stuck them into the recessed holes in the caps. For those who are interested, you can download that Word document to print a set for yourself. You don't have to be too careful when punching the numbers out as several examples I've seen aren't perfect either.
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The last item was replacing the extensions that screw onto the ends of the wires. These were commonly used in the air-cooled VW engines in the 60s and 70s. So I stopped by the local dealer and talked to their parts person. They looked up the part number and then looked at availability. There were only 15 total in North America, 4 in Vancouver, BC and 11 in Toronto, ON. However, I was sent over to a local VW repair shop and they were able to order the 2 dozen I needed. Now I have enough for the PF coupe too.