Plug wire mods to my new AMD valve covers

[Trace 300 Hurst]

You'll recall my post here New valve covers from AMD. Quite nice! about my AMD valve covers, but as I mentioned, I'm moving to 8mm wires. This doesn't quite work with the OEM "rubbers" on the right side, so I hollowed-out [to 29/64ths] the brackets for the white plastic insulators (which then need to be drilled to 19/64ths for 8mm wire):

For the left side, I stole an idea from this picture of one of YOUR cars from Carlisle:

So, using the readily available repro brackets for the # 7 or #8 wires, I cut off the bolt hole tab and JB Welded the bracket to the valve cover in similar locations. I even ground a little angle cut on the corner of the tab so it would look "proper-ish". How silly am I?

Anyhoo, I HATE for plug wires to touch anything except the distrib or the plugs, so I don't care if you guys deduct "style points" for my non-OEM mods!

Time for paint!

Oh, I'll mention it again--the AMD covers are lovely, but they come out of the box DIRTY with fabrication shavings and crud. Who knows what lurks behind the interior baffles? I blasted them dead-clean with soapy water, paintbrush and hose.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Looks good - and I get it - I hate for it to look crappy.

In '65 there were chrome valve covers available for RB engines from the dealer accessory counter.... so I bought the '65 chrome AMD valve covers for my 66. However, they don't have the 66 plug wire holders. I got some crusty 66 covers, took the holders off, had 'em chromed and fastened the on with stainless rivets. No one has noticed so far...

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

No one has noticed so far...

I'll be deducting points by the dozens..........

 

[commando1]

Nice to see guys paying attention to these details. Drives me nuts to see everything done nicely and then the idiot uses billet wire separators Ackkkk...

 

[LocuMob]

Nice to see guys paying attention to these details. Drives me nuts to see everything done nicely and then the idiot uses billet wire separators Ackkkk...

My next car will be 100% correct with proper detailing, thanks to this site.

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Nice to see guys paying attention to these details. Drives me nuts to see everything done nicely and then the idiot uses billet wire separators Ackkkk...

No kidding! And for that matter, you guys with that ugly-*** white and green Interstate battery? How about a little matte black spray paint, fer chrissakes! I purchased a very black AdvancedAuto Group 24 battery [correction, it's a 27], removed the AA stickers, and now it's a quiet, innocuous black box that doesn't insult anyone's eyes.

I never plan to be at the 100% mark, what with the PO's Eddy manifold and Hooker ceramic headers, (and my Street Demon) but when I raise the hood it will look 95% "1970". No zip ties (a common mistake), no stainless wormscrew hose clamps (except where they can't be seen, like where they go into the firewall under the AC box), no colorful crimp connectors (another common mistake!). Only Galen Govier and Big John will notice my "incorrectities".

For instance, I had to raise the throttle bracket about 1.5 inches to get proper alignment with the Demon carb on the tall Performer 440, and mod the kickdown slot for full tranny pressure at WOT.

But when it's all put together with the air cleaner in place, it will pass muster to the untrained eye. Wait...is that a Mopar ThermoQuad we see in there? No.....it's just a Demon.

And that throttle return spring? I "think" it's supposed to be a grey or plain item (which I have in a repop), but I prefer the orange B-body spring. And the red wire to the choke will also be gone soon....Back in Black! And steel fuel line will soon feed the carb, once my AMD valve covers are on. The MoPerf items are too tall at the front corner for the line to fit and scoot past the dizzy.

And finally, here's another "silly" thing I decided to do. After buying a very expensive eBay dual snorkel air cleaner that was in pretty good condition (needing fresh paint, pie tin, new vacuum and breather hoses [but NOT friggin' heater hose...the correct hose!], etc), I decided to carefully remove and replace the original filter sticker with the slight damage markings and slightly crooked placement vs. the "too new" looking repop item. How silly!! How Vain!!

So yeah, no red or yellow coil, no red or blue plug wires (black MSD StreetFire for me), no billet anything. I want it to look very proper, but not Pebble Beach proper.

 

[1978 NYB]

You can still get OEM Group 27 Mopar batteries from Mopar.

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

You can still get OEM Group 27 Mopar batteries from Mopar.

That's interesting, but do they look old-ish? I'm betting they're big $$, huh? And then there's the repop decals (I've only seen the green one) and the clever phony Red Tops thingy.

Correction on my part: I got a big 27 from Advanced, not a 24. Fills the tray completely, looks da bizzness with my repop holddown hardware.

 

[Big_John]

Only Galen Govier and Big John will notice my "incorrectities"

LOL!