02 F4i, 15.5k miles, has original plugs, i plan to do two to four track days a year.

1) How much time should I schedule to change the plugs? 2 hours, 1/2 day, all day?? I pretty much have every "normal" tool known to man.

2) $15 per plug kiss my a$$ (dealer). I see autolite 4302 appears to be the cross reference # for NGK IMR9A-9H and Denso IUH27....priced around $2 compared to $12 for the others. I know autolite is copper vs the other two being iridium, but other than the copper not lasting as long, are there any other side effects? Champion G59C is also a cross reference #, and that is about $4 per plug.

 

Well, the normal change interval is around 16000 miles for plugs. The copper plugs wont last near that, since the irridium are self cleaning they will. Also irridium is one of the best conductors of electricity on earth. The only other metal that is better is gold, and well I don't foresee them making plugs out of that any time soon.
As far as how long it will take you to change the plugs. It takes me about 2 hours and thats with me taking my sweet *** time cause if I finish any quicker the wife will have something else for me to do.

Hope that helps maybe a little bit.

 

Recently while I was out on a test ride after changing my air filter, my engine started to make a bad sound. It was about a mile away from home when my engine started to sound like it was "coughing", a cylinder was misfiring, or like the engine was being robbed of air or gas. I towed the bike home and checked my air filter change (fine). Then I tore into my spark plugs. On one of the coils there was rust, and on another was oil. The plugs themselves looked fine (for 13,000 miles). But, I decided that I should change out the plugs to hopefully fix the problem (plus I already had the old ones removed). I haven't done it yet (going to get iridiums), but does anybody have any suggestions? Basically, do you think it could be the plugs or is it OBVIOUSLY something else?

02 F4i w/ 13,000 miles

Another note about the engine noise: it consistantly sounds like the engine can't get air or gas at all parts of the rev range. And the sound is VERY loud.

Thanks,
Andrew