Saturday, April 4, 2009

Spark plug changed and finished

As some of you may remember I had a NGK style upgrade on my spark plug with the nice tight ball bearing connection, but was warned by a reader that it stood too tall and would dent the underside of the cowl when my wife rode over a big bump. You can see a photo and read the comments about my modified spark plug clip here. I didn't take any chances and changed it back to stock, which is a good thing.It takes very little work to remove the spark plug clip. No need to cut the wire and chance the wire being too short -- mine was in danger of being too short. I used pliers and gently walked it around the clip's end and listened for a small "cracking" sound. It did and I was able to pull the wire out with no effort at all.As you can see it was a clean break. I am no expert, but logic tells me the fact that the modified NGK spark plug clip has a sharp nail like pin going into the cables inside the wire produce both a superior connection and a better water/weather proof protection than the stock one did.In an effort to increase the connection "area" between the wire and the spark plug clip, I recommend trimming the rubber on the wire back and folding the wire back over itself so it literally rests against the clip when you tighten it down. That way you have two connections: the spike in the clip, which goes through the wire, and the folded over wire you created. Click to enlarge the photo to see what I did. Thanks to David at First Kick, who taught me this trick.

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