396 spark plug wires

[Bill W.]

My 65 396 was ordered without a radio (U69).Did it come with braided wires ? The second owner who drove the car for the first owner ( It was a drag race car) thinks he remembers it haveing "shielded" wires . The last time it was drivin was in 1973 with 31,000 miles .Some think it would not have had them . Others think there would have been so few 65 B.B.s made without a radio it would have been cheaper to install braded wires ?
When I bought it it had non delco braded wires with all the correct clips and a brown cap.
I have been keeping information on 65 BB sense about 1980 and only have about 5 built without a radio. A total of 1451 1965 Corvettes were built without a radio . It would be nice to know how many 396s came with out U69.
Bill

[Joel T.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Bill;

I honestly do not know the "official" answer to your question however... Does the car have the distributor shielding and spark plug shields? If it does, my bet would be that it also had braided wires.

Joel

[Clem Z.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

my 65 396 VIN 14271 also was ordered without a radio and when i picked it up at the st louis factory i opened the hood to see the engine and there was no shielding. also no chrome rocker covers and a black air cleaner so i was a little pissed. the reason i am sure there was no shielding around the dist because i removed the coil to dist wire as a theft deterrent when we stayed over in a motel on the way home

[Bill W.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

No there was no hint of shielding or ground straps. Was the spark plug shield for radio protection or a heat shield ?

[Wayne M.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

.. Does the car have the distributor shielding and spark plug shields? If it does, my bet would be that it also had braided wires. ...

Joel --- I believe the spark plug (barrel) shields were heat shields, even found on no-radio cars, although with U69 option they were used to clip one end of the wire braid as ground, for '65 and '66 BB's.

[Joel T.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Joel --- I believe the spark plug (barrel) shields were heat shields, even found on no-radio cars, although with U69 option they were used to clip one end of the wire braid as ground, for '65 and '66 BB's.

Interesting... Thanks for info Wayne.

[Scott S.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

My 65 396 was ordered without a radio (U69).Did it come with braided wires ?

Bill,

The L78 plug wires without U69 are shown on UPC L78-B3. The plug wires for U69 with L78 are shown on UPC U69-A11, with different part numbers for the plug wires. It was my understanding that the plug wires for U69 were braided, and the plug wires for radio delete were not braided. The 65JG does not distinguish between the two different sets of plug wires, implying that all were braided (p. 109).

Dobbins p. 167 shows a photo of the L78 plug wires used for L78 with U69, having the grounding clip attached to the braided wire covering, as depicted on UPC U69-A11. The plug wires shown on L78-B3 do not show any grounding clips attached to the plug wires.

Adams p. 285 says all L78 plug wires were braided, including radio delete, "to protect the radios in nearby cars from interference". If this is so, then it seems both sets of plug wires were braided but only the U69 set had grounding clips. Adams also says that all L78s used the metal spark plug "barrel" shields.

[Carl N.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Bill, Wayne

The spark plug shields were also found on the 201 Z16 1965 Chevelles with the L78. These had standard plug wires with or w/o radio.

Over the years I have found 9 L78's with radio delete and 2 Z16's shipped less radio -

My best guess - the L78's with radio delete had the plug shields just like all the rest.

Carl

[Clem Z.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

i don't believe GM was yet using silicone high temp rubber spark plug boots at the time and the regular ones would melt without the shields from the exhaust heat

[Carl N.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Bill & all other

The Chevrolet Parts & Acc Book # 30B Effective October 1972 calls for the following in group 2.239 Wire Unit, Spark Plug

#6298190 65-69 Corvette (396, 427) (exc. radio) $19.45 set

#6298192 65-67 Corvette (Sp. H/Per. w/radio) (396, 427) $26.90 [wished I'd bought all they had in stock !!!]

Not trying to imply that this info had anything to do with the way St. Louis assembled them - just FYI - I would also guess the 6298192

were the 2nd design less the spark plug barrel clips which affixed to valve cover bolts.

[Scott S.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Bill & all other

The Chevrolet Parts & Acc Book # 30B Effective October 1972 calls for the following in group 2.239 Wire Unit, Spark Plug

#6298190 65-69 Corvette (396, 427) (exc. radio) $19.45 set

#6298192 65-67 Corvette (Sp. H/Per. w/radio) (396, 427) $26.90 [wished I'd bought all they had in stock !!!]

Not trying to imply that this info had anything to do with the way St. Louis assembled them - just FYI - I would also guess the 6298192

were the 2nd design less the spark plug barrel clips which affixed to valve cover bolts.

[Michael H.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

A 65 Corvette with a 396 without radio used the exact same spark plug wires as any 65 passenger car with a 396. No brading/shielding.

[Joe L.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Scott-------


Just in case you are interpreting the "glass interbraid" to mean the "braided" wires, that's not what it means. This refers to the wire's construction and has nothing to do with the braided wire shielding used for Corvette with radio big block plug wires.

[Scott S.]

Re: 396 spark plug wires

Scott-------


Just in case you are interpreting the "glass interbraid" to mean the "braided" wires, that's not what it means. This refers to the wire's construction and has nothing to do with the braided wire shielding used for Corvette with radio big block plug wires.

Joe,

At first I thought it might, but I checked and found that it is a component of the plug wire between the insulation and the jacket, if I understood that correctly.

So it seems that Adams p. 285 is incorrect about the plug wires on radio delete cars. Braided/shielded plug wires were not used for L78 with radio delete, and this should also be added to the list of corrections/updates for the 65JG.