I was thinking more like 1960's cars with radios and dual points.

 

In other words: Don't touch the plug caps while the engine is running.

 

Doesn't sound great - riding the Tail of the Dragon and suddenly doing "the chicken" as you enter a turn. No thanks!

 

I use to ask RIP to check my wire but she only fell for that once!...

 

I once did some work on the Sporty late into the afternoon when I was in Korea... woke up early the next morning for an oh-dark-thirty mission, was drizzly and nasty. Half asleep, riding out of the compound and my fuzzy brain thought, did I put those plug wires back on nice and tight? Reached down to make sure... and I WAS WIDE AWAKE REAL FAST!

 

I got zapped through the plug wires exactly once in my entire life: I was trying to figure out if one of the cylinders on my MGA was misfiring, so I pulled one plug wire.

While it was running.

Yeah...not doing that again.

If you're getting shocks through the plug wire insulation AND through your jeans, something is not right.

 

My uncle used to restore and show antique gas engines (and Harleys!). One time at a show, when I was a kid, he was working on one that was running. The buzz coil was in a wood box but the top was off. I stuck my finger in it. Woke up a few minutes later on my back with a huge chunk blown out of the tip of my finger.

(antique gas engine, for you city folk)

 

As a teen I installed a set of gauges, including an ammeter, in my '71 Camaro. Shortly thereafter, I smelled burning wires and thought I saw the faint blue glow of an electrical arc from behind the gauges. I raised the hood and decided to disconnect the wire leading to the ammeter - evidently, I grabbed + and - simultaneously. I arced from that part of my anatomy which was closest to the fender. That's right B===D!

 

Talk about a "shock of the century"! (in the junk? OUCH!!!!)

 

I had a set on an El Camino back in the 80's. Copper core and could still listen to FM.