Chevrolet Repair: 82 Scottsdale Chevy Spark Plug Wiring, auto parts store, chevy spark

Question
Hi Curtis,
My girlfriend and I have just bought a 82 Chevy Pick-up truck a couple of days ago. When we bought it the previous owner said that the spark plugs needed replaced and so did the wires for the spark plugs. We also bought a manual for the truck so we can learn how to do everything ourself. After we replaced them we went for a drive and we noticed that it feels like it's lagging, before it just wanted to go. When you stop, the truck would try to go but it wasn't that bad. It stopped that and now it feels like it lags, like it doesn't want to go. We were thinking that we might have wired it wrong, we looked in the book and there's no diagram or anything on where the wires go and there weren't any numbers on the wires we bought. I've looked on the internet for a diagram, something to tell me if we did it right or wrong I couldn't find anything. How can we tell if we did it the spark plug wiring wrong?

Answer
This is a question that will be hard to answer over the Internet. If the plug wires were not put on right the truck would more than likely pop and backfire if it ran at all. I would almost say the plugs aren't gapped right. Did you get the factory replacement plugs or the cheapest ones you can find. You can get a gap checker at any auto parts store near you and they can describe to you how to use it but the plugs should be gapped somewhere around 30 thousandths. Another thing I would suggest is that the cap and rotor might need to be cleaned or replaced. The cap is the top part of your distributor and the rotor is the white pear shaped thing with a flat piece of brass you will see when you remove the cap. Your book should tell you how to locate and remove it. Feel free to send me an update and let me know if your problem is fixed. If not we will go from there.