I've done a search but came up with very little. Has anyone here used/made custom ignition/spark plug wires on their bikes?
My project bike has a bad #4 wire and I have replaced it with an ordinary car ignition wire to see if that was the problem. It was but something tells me that there is a reason why the Honda ones have a solid copper wire core. The automotove ones are a different construction than the OEM Honda wires. However the way I see it is, if it works on a car, it should work on a motorcycle but I could be very wrong too.

 

Thanks for the help!

The only dissandvantage, that I know of, for using a copper core ignition wire is that it can severy interfere with radio reception. But copper is a better conductor and probably more durable than carbon. I woud get a full set of OEM replacements if it wasn't going to cost so much (over $200). I have a bunch of new, left over automotive, ignitons wires sitting in mygarage and maybe I'll just make a set out of them.

The bad part of all this is that the real problem of #4 not running was the lack of fuel and not spark (I mixed up the condesation on the plug with raw fuel).....someone has removed the fuel pump on this bike and I had to gravity feed the cards. The fuel in the tank was low too so looks like that #4 was not getting any fuel. Once I put more gas in the tank, #4 came alive.

 

I have Imo.

I replaced the original coils and wires. New coils were dyna mini and the wires were 8.5mm MSD super silicones.

Bought the wire in a 6 ft run, cut them to length and used the crimpers and dies (for MSD) for the terminals.

Runs like a champ ... also put in new iridium plugs... made a difference. Let me know if you want pics.

Art

 

When my bike starts running on 3 I know it's time to switch to reserve - seems to be a common thing with them.
Car spark leads will work perfectly well. I made up a set for a GSX1100, as the rats had eaten the originals - as far as I know she's still running fine on them.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'll make a fresh set before the tank gets bolted down.

 

I found this educational...
http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/truth.htm

 

Car spark plug wires have carbon and fiberglass. They break down often. Since Honda wires have copper cores, there is nothing to break down. Except for the little resistor in the cap over the spark plug. Pull the cap and look down the part that clips onto the end of the spark plug. You can use a wide blade screwdriver and unscrew the brass connector. There is a small resistor under it. You can cut a metal screw, the same length and diameter as the resistor and substitute it for the resistor. If you think the resistor is bad. DANGER! This could damage your electronic ignition advance. But think about. A resistor in the spark plug wire. And a resistor in the spark plug. How much resistance does the ignition signal to the plug need?

 

The problem with mine was that the cap would spin and the end (the part that clips onto the spark plug) would be spinning too. So the core wires were broken. and sure enough one I pulled on it, the wire came out of the cap.