spark plug wire question

[Bustedknuckles]

so I'm rebuilding an 82 gs1100... its running decent at the moment but not 100%... or even close to 100% for that matter...

one thing i know it needs is new spark plug wires. the current ones are from the factory. they're brittle, cracked, and just all around falling apart.

my question is this... in order to replace them do i just yank the wire out of the ignition coil and stuff the new wire in there? (obviously not in such a barbaric manner, but you get the point...)

is there anything special i need to do? or any certain procedure i need to follow?

and lastly, because its for an older motorcycle will i have to go to a specialty shop to get the wires? or will any autozone, advanced auto parts, or O'Reily's have them? basically, are they pretty generic?

Thanks in advance!
Sincerely,
~Nate

 

[mike_of_bbg]

They're epoxy-potted into the coils. Try doing some forum searches, some people have done it. The factory wires are copper core so other than trimming about 1/4" from the ends and putting on new ends they really shouldn't be too problematic.

Or you can use this as an excuse to upgrade your coils to ones that don't have embedded wires!

 

[Bustedknuckles]

well its the insulated wire itself that looks like junk, not so much the ends. (well the ends too) basically everything you can see...

and after looking a little more into it i realized that the dyna ignition coil and wire replacements are like 400-500 bones and some change!

ouch! i would rather spend alot less money on just new wires and have to do a little modification in order to get them on.

any other options or advice?

 

[koolaid_kid]

No.
Yes.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
Yes.
Perhaps that was a bit succinct. You can't just pull them out, you have to dig them out. BassCliff probably has the procedure on his website.
Any 7mm or 8 mm wires will do. On my GS I have 2 automobile suppression wires and 2 factory wires with new suppression caps. Auto wires tend to require the screw-on tips to remain installed on the plugs, bike wires tend to require their removal. My GPz has 8.5mm Accel wires on them, and they work great.
I recommend the Dyna wires, Z1 carries them for less than $20 IIRC.
And if you want to replace the coils also, get the green Dyna coils also. Mine are sitting with the wires; a winter project.

 

[mike_of_bbg]

$400-500! What coils are you looking at? You should be looking at these:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Dyna-Dual-Output-30-Ohm-Coils-pair-DC11-210.aspx

$130, say $150 with wires. Good coils, just use care with the clearances on installation. They can be found a little bit cheaper from other sources, but Z1 is a great vendor.

On replacing stock wires:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=177404&highlight=epoxy+wires

 

[Curly]

Got my replacement wire at NAPA, 8mm I think. They weren't epoxied in to the coil though, not sure when they started that. Carefully pried off the retaining brackets, pulled the old one out, shoved the new one in. Reused the caps, but I'm getting close to needing/wanting to replace them, they're all brown.

 

[Bustedknuckles]

$400-500! What coils are you looking at? You should be looking at these:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Dyna-Dual-Output-30-Ohm-Coils-pair-DC11-210.aspx

$130, say $150 with wires. Good coils, just use care with the clearances on installation. They can be found a little bit cheaper from other sources, but Z1 is a great vendor.

On replacing stock wires:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=177404&highlight=epoxy+wires

well i have no idea what i was looking at then!

i will look into getting those green replacement coils you suggested, are they pretty much plug and play or do you need to do other ignition upgrades to put them on?
and are those coils displayed direct replacements for my 1100?
sorry about the electrical ignorance, im a mechanical guy...

Thanks!
~Nate

 

[UncleBen]

If you test your coils and they are good, why bother replacing them? I got a set of Dyna 7mm solid core wire (non-supression) and a set of NGK plug boots from Z1 last week. total cost was around $25 I think. If you are getting low voltage at the coils, you may want to consider the coil relay mod or insuring the wiring and switches are properly maintained to remove excess loss.

Using a dremmel, a pick and some needle nose pliars, digging the old wires out of the coils took about a half hour. After that, just press the new wires into the coils and glue or epoxy them in. There are quite a few threads on this site with pictures of the coils after removing the old wires.

 

[koolaid_kid]

Aftermarket coils tend to have more windings than stock, which is why they are larger in diameter. The more windings, the more voltage amplification. Which means a higher voltage at the plugs. My Accel coils claimed about 10k volts more than stock, but I never measured them. Also, one has to remember marketing always stretches the truth in order to make their product appear better.
If the relay mod is done properly (with a fuse block to distribute the voltage) it can also be used for horns, GPS, etc. If you have a Wing it can also power your cappuccino machine. (Just ask Steve. )