My 164 has had a weird problem -- backfiring under load.

I cleaned up most of the ignition wiring yesterday and drove

the car for about 2 hours. It still was doing it though not

as much as before.

When I got home, I looked under the hood with the lights off.

I heard a ticking noise from around the distributor area, and

when I stuck my head under the hood to try to isolate the ticking

I noticed that around each of the spark plug shrouds there was

some blue light.

So, is this some of the spark leaking from the plug wires to

the block before going into the spark plug? Under load does

the resistance inside the combustion chamber go up to the point

where the plugs don't spark and instead the majority of the

voltage jumps from the wire to the block without hitting the

plug at all?

Does this mean that I need new wires? Would it be better if

I gooped dielectric grease into the plug wire's connectors?

What about anti-sieze? It seems like it would be both conductive

and water proof (so long as I keep the goop away from the

block itself, that is).

The plug wires seem to be holding onto the plugs pretty well.

The plugs themselves seem to be correctly gapped and aren't

fouled or gunked up or anything. The wires are "autolite" brand

which doesn't make me think they are the best in the world,

but even so they don't seem crappy or old or anything.

Suggestions?

chris