Straight from the Taylor website FAQ..... Q. I just bought a set of your universal wires and I can't get the boots to slide over the terminal and wire. What is the secret? A. Unfortunately, there is no secret. They can be difficult, but all it takes is some muscle and lubricant. Silicone spray, WD40 or other lubricant will work, but good old-fashioned dish soap seems to be as effective as anything else.
Dish soap is non corrosive, but it leaves things clean so they will corrode faster. Should be fine. They do make a bot grease though, its non-conductive. somehow. yea run it from the alt casing if there is no ground stud.
Glad you cleaned up the mounting bolt and spacer, but I don't think your alternator was hunting for a ground. I think that the suspect (arcing) plug wire was hunting for a ground. It takes 1kV to jump 1mm, generally. Yesterday, I would bet that the plug wire was touching the case of the alternator. None the less, it sounds like you have found your problem.
I was no doubt a poor ground connection... Likely there was less than .001" space and that was created by the corrosion/dirt in between the alt/spacer and/or block... A alt must have a ground to complete the circuit, otherwise it can't function.. It's really no different than having a loose wire on the alt output, would give a arc with erratic charging, just a different location in the circuit... The plug wire issue is totally unrelated, there you are dealing with thousands of volts not 12... Likely the soap is slightly conductive so there is some corona or slight arc happening, a good cleaning with distilled water followed by alcohol and a heat gun or hair dryer will likely fix that... Electrical cleaner may do it but it must evaporate completely and not leave a residue... Still first I'd wash the wires thoroughly with distilled water or at least water without a lot of minerals...
I see your point. I imagined his original description as much more than 0.001". But combined with the misfire during "alt bolt head" arcing, I still think it was secondary ign problem. If the alt stopped supplying a charge (due to a bad alt ground), the system is still at 12V, plenty to fire the ignition and not cause a misfire. No real need to keep going on this. As the great Ron Burgundy once said, "We shall agree to disagree." :Handshake
Ok so with that issue solved it's back to the missfire at higher RPM's, yesterday I traded a timing chain cover and rear sump pick-up tube for a lightly used Holley carb, also sold my old 351w long block for $300.00, that will get me a Pertronix dizzy...........
Nice lookin' carb, what size is it??? I've not seen one that has the silver plating but had the old school finish in the throat...
It appears to be a 750cfm to me but I have not confirmed that, it was getting late when he came out to pick up the tired old 351w, I have not been out today yet, it's 55 degrees here this morning and I am being lazy!
Back on the ignition wire issue, has anyone used dielectric grease to assemble them? I'd think that would be the ticket!
I use it on plug wires at both ends to make the boots easier to remove. I was using a little in the dizzy but it seemed to build up resistance at the rotor contact points. I only use a little now at center of the rotor. I will use on any other wiring I feel necessary.
I used all I had on the coil packs on the 5.4L that was in the truck I had, it had an issue with water getting in plug boot number 4. Gotta get some more.
