Billyboy746

I have a 71 Olds 350 rebuilt 2 yrs ago with slightly larger cam, Edlebrock intake and Holly carb. Still have the points ignition. I heard that NGK plugs are great and NGK suggested the XR4 plug. Anyone with experience on these?
Also the plug wires Rockauto suggested the Bluestreak High Performance wire set 8.5 mm #10008. Anyone got ideas on this also?
Thanks all!

oldcutlass

I think its overkill. In your application stock wiring and standard plugs will work fine.

redoldsman

Bluestreak makes good products but I agree with Eric in that those 8.5 mm wires are overkill. A set of the proper AC plugs should work fine. Of course I would get rid of those points and Eric would keep them. That topic has come up so many times most of us know where each other stands on that issue. No wrong answers on that really.

oldcutlass

Hey... I like most ignition systems. But again nothing wrong with points. I have an HEI on my car, only because it was laying around.

MDchanic

+1 to the above... The overkill part, anyway. I won't say anything about points or HEI.

- Eric

rocketraider

I've never known a Holley that didn't run at least a shade rich so the better ignition you have, the better.


The NGK plugs will work great. If you plan to keep the points, I would get a hotter coil and go a little wider on plug gap. If you go HEI (or even a Pertronix, Jacobs etc conversion), you can open the gap up to about .045-.048, maybe as much as .060 with GM HEI, and get a nice fat hot spark which both the NGK plugs and the carb will like.


I sometimes wonder if there are ANY really good plug cables anymore. I've gotten in the habit of resistance checking even brand new ones and double checking all the terminal ends. If you stick with points, a good set of stock replacements will work fine. If you go high-powered electronic ignition, by necessity you will need heavier cables with larger cores and heftier insulation.