Plug wire routing

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by DMXF

'65 vintage lightweight 427, as prepared by Ford:

Gulp! Hey, you learn something new everyday.

Please allow me to correct my previous statement:

Cleaner looking? Agreed. Proper and original in a Cobra? No.

[DMXF]

Originally Posted by ACademic

Proper and original in a Cobra? No.

Probably Academic, but Shelby American was receiving lightweight engines from Ford for the Cobra over some period of time and it is unclear whether later shipments (for the Cobra) had plug wires configured around the side. The 427's were typically blown up by the time a few races had gone by, the SCCA outlawed the aluminum head engines much of the time and combined with the lack of many period engine photos, we may never know. The plug wire routing was a running change in the way the E&F Experimental group was configuring these. The 289 race cars with webers and air boxes had wires routed more around the front outside of the engine to clear it all, so if the 427 team cars had actually happened, I suspect you would have seen the side wire routing as more of a regular scenario.

[ACademic]

Originally Posted by DMXF

Probably Academic, but Shelby American was receiving lightweight engines from Ford for the Cobra over some period of time and it is unclear whether later shipments (for the Cobra) had plug wires configured around the side. The 427's were typically blown up by the time a few races had gone by, the SCCA outlawed the aluminum head engines much of the time and combined with the lack of many period engine photos, we may never know. The plug wire routing was a running change in the way the E&F Experimental group was configuring these. The 289 race cars with webers and air boxes had wires routed more around the front outside of the engine to clear it all, so if the 427 team cars had actually happened, I suspect you would have seen the side wire routing as more of a regular scenario.

An interesting perspective and thank you for sharing. The guys in the shop installed whatever came in the crates. I would suspect that both plug wire routings were experienced at some point during each thrash.