Chevrolet Impala SS, Handbook

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SSHandbook
Maintenance: Electrical
SURE that things are right, go ahead and snap shut the 2-wire holder.
27. Put a piece of loom on each of the #8 and #6 wires forward of the 2-wire holder (i.e. on the parts of #8
and #6 wires that are running below the #4 and 2 plugs).
28. For the #4 wire, you wanna tie a piece of 12 gauge wire to BOTH ends of the plug wire. Route the plug
boot end up as you did with #6 and #8, but you'll probably have to "overshoot" to get the boot far enough
down to untie the 12 gauge wire. Thus you have the 12 gauge wire on the other end to "pull it back thru"
towards the opti-spark. Snap the #4 plug boot onto the plug, and untie the 12 gauge wire from the opti-
spark end boot.
29. Repeat the same as #4 on the #2 wire. Here, having the "other end" with the 12 gauge wire will be even
more critical.
30. From underneath, you want to put a small piece ofwire loom on each wire individually so that the wire is
protected from chafing as it passes thru that small space between the AC compressor and accessory
bracket.
31. DO NOT PUT THE WIRES IN THE 4 WIRE LOOM YET!
32. Put another piece of wire loom on each wire on the end closest to the opti-end boot. This will protect the
wire as it is run up to the Opti-spark.
33. Starting from the bottom up, route the #2 wire up to the opti-spark and plug it in. Repeat for the #8, 6, and
4 plug wires.
34. IF POSSIBLE, put the wire ends into the 4-wire holder. Sometimes you can only get 3 of 4 to fit but the
#4 wire was not QUITE long enough to go back in. So, just make sure its not touching nothing, and let it
hang. Once you are SURE, then snap the 4-wire holder back together.
35. If you want, reinstall the heat shields from the stock wires onto the new wires. Since there is sufficient
clearance and these heat shields are often a source of problems with the wires shorting to ground, most
don't bother.
36. Reinstall idler pulley and accessory belt
37. Start car, and see if it is firing on all 8. If not, you probably crossed a couple plug wires or didn't get a
plug or opti-spark boot on tight. Also, listen for a "tick tick" that would indicate a plug that isn't tight, and
look for evidence ofsparks jumping to ground.
Final
› Assuming all is OK, reinstall the wheels, lower the car, torque lug nuts to 100 ft lbs, and reinstall center
caps. Go for a test drive to make sure everything is ok.