Spark plug wires replacement - cheap and working

[snatch]

Excessive corrosion of the spark plug wires is not very common. In fact, someone usually won't have to bother with them under normal circumstances, they are not the kind of machine part which endures "heavy loads". They are a vital part of the electrical system though.

In my case, almost one year of no activity at all (it took me that much to bring her back in life after con rods replacement) had a bad impact especially on rubber and plastic parts. The familiar sound of my steamer working on 2 cylinders turned out to be not an ignition coil problem as anyone would suspect; one of the spark plug boots broke into 2 pieces when I tried to pull it out, showing me the real reason of the problem. Excessive corrosion in all 3 wires and boots was obvious.



A quick glance in bikebandit website disappointed me. Spark plug wires come as a set of three and cost 110$. A phone call to the local dealer in Athens made things even worse; 150€ and I had to wait a month for delivery.

After some googling and a lot of search on car and motorbike electronics shops, everything was pointing at the OEM triumph part. Steamer's spark plug boots are longer than usual, they have water protection rubber attached and they come out of the engine in an angle. Almost impossible to find. (I read somewhere that NGK has a replacement for these, but I was not able to find more details on that - if anyone knows something please share it).

Quite disappointed, but not willing to spend that money for some pieces of rubber and plastic, I thought I should give it a shot. Here is what I came up with.



This is a very common NGK part and it costs only 4€ (X3 = 12€). Along with these, I had to buy 1 meter of KBR spark cable (1€) and three metal connectors (easily found in any electronic equipment store - 0.3€)





Those are the metal connectors I easily found on the electronics store. No soldering needed. I was lucky to find them naked, but even if you find them with a plastic protection around, they make do.

The problem was now to make the water sealing, just like the OEM parts. The broken spark plug boot was 'yelling' at me. Yep, I could use that.




So, step by step instructions:

1. Put all the stuff you 'll need on a work bench. (3 NGK boots, 1 meter of spark plug wire, the 3 metallic connectors, a razor or any sharp cutter, your three old spark plug wires and an ohmometer.)

2. Cut the spark plug boot's upper rubber as shown here:


3. Now use the razor to cut off the old boots and get the piece you need as shown here:


4. With a help of some liquid soap or oil, slip the new spark cable through the piece you just cut off.

5. Now start "screwing" the cable in the boot clockwise putting some pressure in the same time (there is a screw in the boot's upper end which penetrates the cable - needs no soldering)

6. Press the metallic connector in the other cable end and you have yourself a custom wire set.


Pros:
1. Costed 13 euros (10% of the OEM part)
2. Works as a charm. You can tell the difference even when the engine functions in idle.
3. You 're happy because you 're the DIY kind of man.

Cons:
1. When pulling out the boots from the engine all the pressure goes to the cable now. That's because the piece of the old boot is not anyway attached to the NGK boot. I'm working on that.
2. The ohmometer showed 4.8KOhms for the OEMS and 5.2 for the custom replacements. I find this difference tolerable but give me a few weeks to test it.


As you can see above, i used the broken part as the sealing I needed, plus it gave the cable the right angle. In this photo I have pulled off the boot's upper rubber cover, but as it turned out you 're gonna need it (you 'll have to cut it a little though to achieve the correct length of the boot as mentioned above).



Good luck to those who found that article useful. Happy to share more details if asked.

[Stretch]

Good post, thanks.

Now linked to the 'Steamer Wisdom' and 'Tiger Parts Cross-Reference' threads.

[Dr. Mordo]

Wow, nice work!  Thanks!

[nightrunner]

Excellent how-to post on a cheap fix.

If I had known I had sold you mine.  I switched to TT600 coils so no need for wires.  Hmmm.  Maybe ebay.

[snatch]

Thank you nightrunner for your offer, and thank you all people for finding this article potentially useful.

Nightrunner, I can't recall why I didn't ask here for any spare wires. Silly of me indeed. I should have known better next time.