Can this actually work?

[Robs71Nova]

Hey guys. I was reading the latest issue of "Chevy Performance" and I came across something I found very interesting and I was wondering if it would work. The issue said that by switching the sparkplug wires on the #4 and #7 cylinders and it is suppose to give you a slight increase in horsepower and durablity and overall makes your car run better. Has anyone else heard this? Im gonna try to find the article online, but until then any opinions would be welcome.

Rob

[DaMoNe6969]

thatd be news to me?? Give it a shot..lol let me know how you make out??

[406Elcamino]

Comp Cams makes a camshaft for the firing order switch. It is more recommended for racing.

[68chevelle]

and i think you need a new cap and maybe a couple more things too. you cant just switch the wires and nothing else. there are a number of different firing orders that you can use.

[406Elcamino]

The cap doesnt need to be changed. Just the camshaft.

[89IROC&RS]

and it only works on carbed, TBI, and maybe TPI engines.

[blueturtle]

well i tuink my #4 and #7 are switched b/c i know my engine has a performance cam so mabye ur right

[89IROC&RS]

just cuz its a performance cam, dont mean its the swapped firing order cam. theres plenty of standard, in fact, mostly standard firing order performance cams.

[Pewter'01SS]

A standard crank and cam can work with a variety of different firing orders. Any small block with the 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 firing order can run on all of these other firing orders without changing the crank or cam layout.

1-8-4-2-6-5-7-3
1-8-7-2-6-5-4-3
1-8-7-3-6-5-4-2
1-5-4-3-6-8-7-2
1-5-7-3-6-8-4-2
1-5-7-2-6-8-4-3
1-5-4-2-6-8-7-3

[4onFloor]

can you run the risk of burning a valve by changing the firing order? i'm intrigued to try this

[ridge_runner]

yea me 2... lol

[Deadcarny]

the 4-7 cams are becoming more popular now. It has been around for a while and makes better power and drivability on EFI cars. On carburated cars, I think it was not as easy to tune them and have the drivability Or something. The Gen III engines (at least i know the LS1/LS6) have the 4-7 cams in them.

However, you cannot just change the plug wires or something like that. it is a special ground cam, and I also think that PCM programming would have to be altered as well.

[406Elcamino]

With those firing orders above I think you are going to be making lost of noise with them. Just wont work.

[Pewter'01SS]

From my understanding, all of those firing orders work but, like 4onfloor was getting at, not all of those orders are reliable. The standard
1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 is almost as good as it gets for a Gen I crank. If you swap the 4 and the 7, it runs smoother, it is still reliable and you could gain a few extra horses. I've never tried it myself, because I've never really thought about it while putting new wires on (more concerned about keeping them off the damn headers). Alot of pro teams totally revise thier firing order and have the cam and crank custom made in order to get the engine to make the most horsepower and do it more consistently.

[Faze2183]

interestin