Source: Lotus West
Author: Paul Horkin
Date: 1976
Title: LET THE JUICES FLOW
LW# 00EL088

The juices referred to are the electrical type, which spark your engine to life. You can obtain increased reliability and performance through a little extra effort in upgrading the simplest portion of your ignition system: the connectors and wiring from coil to spark plugs.

Because of cost and convenience the factory feels that carbon core wire is more than sufficient. If heat and vibration were absent this would probably be true. However, we are well aware that small, highly-tuned four cylinder engines must exist in hot, vibrating environments. To cope with these rigors, I would recommend high-tension wire composed of stainless-steel cores wrapped with high-temperature insulation. My personal preference is Lucas wire, (yellow with 2 black stripes), but any other stainless/silicone wire that you buy from the roll should be sufficient. Make sure you buy it from a roll. You'll probably need about 15 feet. Price range is usually $0.65 to $1.25 per foot.

Now that you have the wire, don't repeat past mistakes: be sure it is secured at the terminals. Those of you with a Lucas Sport Coil are one step ahead, because this coil's terminal is a screw-on type, which clamps an oversize button down on the contact. Otherwise, use Accel #17001 terminals at both coil and distributor. These terminals give the best contact and the greatest grip on the wire of any I've found. They cost about $1.60 for 10 and are available at any hotrod shop. Do the job up properly and solder the wire to the terminal, then crimp the terminal to the wire.

The preferred spark plug terminals are those, which offer a positive grip on the wire. Look for a terminal, which has a wood screw, which pierces the center of the wire. Rajah clips are readily available and I can recommend them. However, they are not as positive as they should be. You can make the normal terminals work much better just by soldering them to the wires.

Before you pack the whole thing back into place, run a continuity check with an ohmmeter. One cold solder joint can ruin your efforts. Remember to also check your distributor cap and rotor, as these must be in perfect order for good running.

Paul Horkin
Van Nuys, Calif.