1980 450slc Spark Plug Wire Lengths?

[Jeff K]

Hello 107 Gurus:

Does anyone out there have the plug wire lengths by cylinder or at least the relative order of length by cylinder?

I just bought a Bosch plug set. Before I pull all the old wires, measure them, and replace them correctly while maintaining the proper routing, I thought I'd ask the above question. If I know which cylinder gets which wire, I can do the job one wire at a time. It's a daily driver, so I can't have the car down for too long. I looked in the CD manual and couldn't find the information.

Thanks!

-Jeff
1980 US 450slc

[Gary Ganaway]

When I replaced the wires on my 85 380SE I just did one wire at a time. The Bosch replacements were not exact match wire for wire but you can tell which ones are the longest then use the longest replacements. Then work down to the next longest and so on.

[Tomguy]

I can ASSUME lengths knowing where the distributor is with respect to the engine...

4 and 3 should be the longest, followed by 8 and 7, followed by 2 and 1, followed by 6 and 5. Sounds right in my head, at least.

[Jeff K]

Thanks guys. I was hoping someone knew, but Tomguy's general description should get me started. I intend to measure them as I take them off, so I'll post the results here in a week or so for future lost souls who might be searching the forum.
-Jeff

[Roncallo]

For the 560SL, the cable lengths, Thats the raw cable without boot is as follows.

1 780mm
2 740mm
3 830mm
4 900mm
5 660mm
6 740mm
7 740mm
8 740mm

They are both M117 engines. As long as the fireing order is the same your relative lengths should be the same.

Also my friend bought a set of Bosch wires for his 560SL and they came numbered. ???

John Roncallo

[Tomguy]

Not to be a bugger, but why is #2 THAT much shorter than #1? They are right next to each other on the dizzy - and although #2 is closer to the right bank on the dizzy than #1, #2 is further from it than #1 - does the 560 maybe not have the spark plug wire holders on the valve covers that I am used to seeing on the 450s?

[Roncallo]

Originally Posted by Tomguy

Not to be a bugger, but why is #2 THAT much shorter than #1? They are right next to each other on the dizzy - and although #2 is closer to the right bank on the dizzy than #1, #2 is further from it than #1 - does the 560 maybe not have the spark plug wire holders on the valve covers that I am used to seeing on the 450s?

On the 560 the wires for the center of each bank (2,3,6,7) are generally shorter than the wires for the end cylinders (1, 4, 5, 8) of each bank. This is because all wires pass through wire holders right above the center two cylinders. From that point the end cylinders must use a longer length to reach the plugs.

John Roncallo