Save Your Old Sparkplugs

[Cohiba54]

So one of the stick coils on my 2004 R1150R twin spark went south about 2.5 years ago at +/- 18k miles, went to the local dealer and bought a set. Installed them and on the road I went. Well the clock hit 36k miles two weeks ago and what do you know, the dreaded coil going south on/off serge hit. I hate it when that happens all leaned over pushing through a curve. I digress let me get back on track here.

So I check the local Beemer shop, prices have gone through the roof, I hit the interweb and find “Euro MotoElectrics” (http://www.euromotoelectrics.com) with good prices and give them a call. I don’t know if John is the owner but he sure took care of biz as if he was. John and I chat for a bit about BMW changing vendors for the primary stick coils and that they sell the ones BMW use to get. With one thing and another the talk leads to heat being the killer of the stick coils and the possibility of not putting the coils back into the top end of the cylinder and hiding them somewhere away from heat and out of the elements. We worked through a few scenarios. Figured under the seat and mounted to the frame would be the way to go. John came up with sparkplug wires like what would go on a non twin spark R1150R bike and the coils I needed

Now what all do I need?
1. Sparkplug wires long enough to reach under the seat after being connected to the sparkplugs buried in the cylender heads at 50 buks a set.
2. The correct speck stick coils for my bike at 120 buks a peice.

So here's what I ended up with.

Sparkplug Wires


Coils


You will need to pull off the boot off of coil end of the new wires. I know 50 buks out the window, right? Trust me, I'll respect you in the morning.....


Remember those old sparkplugs you didn't throwaway sitting in the tray of your tool box? Go get two of them and hammer the porcelain off, twist the rod off and sharpen a panicle tip on the rod.


Now take the new 50 buk sparkplug wires you ruined. You know your Mom told you not to trust little Johnny that he was a bad boy and sooner or later he was going to cost you some grief… Well I’m not little Johnny

Here’s what you do, take the rod you sharpened and push it into the end of the wire.

So you have this. Take this end and plug it into the new stick coil.


Here's what it all should look like, all ready for plug and play.


Routing and mounting is a snap.
Here’s the stick coil mounted to the frame.


Make sure that the ground lead of the existing wiring is connected to some unpainted steel.
Here I took off the rear gas tank mounting bracket, you also need to remove the mounting plate that the bracket bolts into. Don’t connect the ground between the tank bracket and it’s mounting plate, that plate is plastic and will not ground to the bike. Make your ground connection between the frame and the mounting plate.


Routing from the frame to the cylinder head.

Over the Intake


Under the TB


Finishing up



Put the cover over the sparkplug and go for a ride.

Remember what your Mom told you about little Johnny! If he told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? Well I'm not telling you to do this Mod, I'm just showing your waht I did. I don't guaranty that this will last or save you dollars down the road or leave you stranded somewhere you realy don't want to be.

So I leave you to your own devises.

BTW - Being the bike was at 37k miles "Euro MotoElectrics" had air, oil filters, fuel filter and screen. Call John (303.526.0901) he's a good guy, let him know you saw my post he may just start giving us a brake on prices,

See ya down the road.

[vwdoctor]

I was on the same situation regarding stick coils and I went a step further. I bought a set of those wires and routed them from the secondary coil to the primary spark plug. Single spark engine.

[sweatmark]

Cross post reference for same topic in ADV:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=713106

I'm already set up with old school R1150 single spark plug wires, plus some Ford coil overs. Just waiting for my current stick plugs to die.

[vwdoctor]

I have to revisit this issue on my bike. There are some reports of different timings for primary vs secondary sparks. I didnt notice anything obviou but I didnt have a chance to compare mine with stock dual spark. As soon as I put it together I will take some readings.

[Cohiba54]

I was on the same situation regarding stick coils and I went a step further. I bought a set of those wires and routed them from the secondary coil to the primary spark plug. Single spark engine.

Thanks a good idea.
But have you felt any loss in power or surging? keep us posted. Oh how about MPG have you noticed a change there?

[Cohiba54]

Cross post reference for same topic in ADV:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=713106

I'm already set up with old school R1150 single spark plug wires, plus some Ford coil overs. Just waiting for my current stick plugs to die.

Yep somewhat the same idea, except I just used the same stock stick coil and added the new leads. That post over on “advrider” went on to some deep areas that I don’t think will come into play with my setup. I like mine because it’s on the KISS principal. No additional bits and pieces to figure out, find, buy and cobble together. More possible points of fairer not to mention the BMW computer up-chucking because it’s married to the Ford coil.

Don’t get me wrong here, nothing against being inventive, look at what I did with my throw a way sparkplugs or Fords for that much, I loved my 1968 Mustang GT 390 I had back in high school.


I just felt that if I start having any issue’s out in BFE I’ll just pull off the road and go back to stock right there on the spot.

Do keep us posed on your setup one you’ve got some miles with it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Wonderful! Ingenious! This is the most clever mod since externalizing the fuel filter.
I like my r12r a lot, but I really miss the ingenuity of this section. There is no 12 forum that can compare. Though my Stella! now resides 400 miles away, if she were still here I would be sorely tempted to do this.

I suppose this can be done to the 12 also, but who knows how it will react. I will remember this though, if the time comes for a stick coil replacement.
Thanks for posting!

John

[riceburner]

I have to admit I was wondering if this would work.

How many miles have you done since this mod was implemented?


Has to be said - I've switched over to the new grey coloured coil-caps we get in Europe/UK and they seem to be working fine - haven't had an issue with them.

I cover them with high-temperature silicon grease before putting them in place - makes them far easier to get out and keeps them cleaner - my theory is that it makes them more resistant to water damage. All the old ones I've had fail definitely had corrosion and swelling.

[Cohiba54]

I have to admit I was wondering if this would work.

How many miles have you done since this mod was implemented?


Has to be said - I've switched over to the new grey coloured coil-caps we get in Europe/UK and they seem to be working fine - haven't had an issue with them.

I cover them with high-temperature silicon grease before putting them in place - makes them far easier to get out and keeps them cleaner - my theory is that it makes them more resistant to water damage. All the old ones I've had fail definitely had corrosion and swelling.

Yep it works!
My concerns now are. How long with this work?
Have I lost any power because of adding the length of wire from the coil to the plug?
For how many miles? I've only done about 500 miles.
I haven't checked the MPG, my reserve light switches on around 150 miles which is about the same before the mod.

[vwdoctor]

I was on the same situation regarding stick coils and I went a step further. I bought a set of those wires and routed them from the secondary coil to the primary spark plug. Single spark engine.

Thanks a good idea.
But have you felt any loss in power or surging? keep us posted. Oh how about MPG have you noticed a change there?

After the sync bike was running fine. There was a very slight "surge" at 3200rmp but noticeable to me since I am looking for it. Fuel economy was at 35 or so. I think reserve light was coming on at 140miles. I see no reason to believe that second spark would do anything for fuel economy especially at higher rpms (where you burn the most fuel).
Still I want to have definitive measurement of timing for my own piece of mind. There was no pinging so I was not too advanced even in FL heat.
I am hoping to put it back together next week.

On a related note I was thinking about using the stick coil inputs to drive another "regular" coil (one under the tank). Modify the connectors of course. You can find these coils all over the place, they are cheap, they hardly every fail, and if they do, you have another one right on the bike. It would be the ultimate redundancy.

[Cohiba54]

I was on the same situation regarding stick coils and I went a step further. I bought a set of those wires and routed them from the secondary coil to the primary spark plug. Single spark engine.

Thanks a good idea.
But have you felt any loss in power or surging? keep us posted. Oh how about MPG have you noticed a change there?

After the sync bike was running fine. There was a very slight "surge" at 3200rmp but noticeable to me since I am looking for it. Fuel economy was at 35 or so. I think reserve light was coming on at 140miles. I see no reason to believe that second spark would do anything for fuel economy especially at higher rpms (where you burn the most fuel).
Still I want to have definitive measurement of timing for my own piece of mind. There was no pinging so I was not too advanced even in FL heat.
I am hoping to put it back together next week.

On a related note I was thinking about using the stick coil inputs to drive another "regular" coil (one under the tank). Modify the connectors of course. You can find these coils all over the place, they are cheap, they hardly every fail, and if they do, you have another one right on the bike. It would be the ultimate redundancy.

I Like the Idea of using regular coils and I like cheap but will the input connector fitment be a problem. Let us know what you discover on spark timing difference if any.

Heads up on the slight serge you felt, it may not be related to your coil setup.

I find that when I do a TB sycn (usually after valve adj.) that I need to run the RPM’s up to about 35 hundred and hold for a few seconds long enough for your monometer to settle. If that is balanced then your good and won’t or shoul’d feel feel a serge. If you see that there is a vast difference in balance, then you will get a serge at higher RPM’s when running down the road because both butterflies are not opening the same amount. The serge is when both cylenders catch up with eachother.

The fix is easily done by adjusting the throttle cable at the TB up or down to achieve balance. I usually adjust the side that is pulling the higher vacuum down (butterfly is open more).


Be warned you might start chasing your tail on this one and you always want to have 1 or no more than 2 millimeter of play in the cable here at idle.
If you catch your tail stop, have a cig and a beer youll be fine.