coil wire question

has anyone had any bad results in using carbon core wires (in lieu of the metal core) with the ngk screw-in end caps?
jim

Good question. When I realized I needed to replace the original spark plug wires on my two bikes, I paid a visit to the local auto parts stores. When I asked for solid copper core spark plug wires, they gave me a blank look and was told all plug wires are carbon cored. They don't make copper plug wires. Natch, all the guys I talked to were under 30. Z1 makes a set of copper core wires for under 20 bucks and the spark plug caps are already installed. They run just fine on my two KZ1100s, and, come in different colors.....chris3

You only want a resistor in one place. The resistor can be the wires, or the in the plugs, or in the caps. I prefer carbon wires as the resistor, then use no end caps and no resistor plugs. Copper wires with resistor caps should work (with plain plugs).

Not to hijack the thread but speaking of coils...

If a coil is rated at .6 ohm and using electronic ignition is this better or worse?

A .6-ohm coil is only good if the ignition is designed to handle the short dwell time and won't burn up from the extra current. For Dyna S, III, and Kaw points and electronic ignition, the .6 will do damage.

.6-ohm coils require more sophisticated dwell control circuits to prevent going up in smoke.

hey lou, will there be a problem making a connection with a solid core wire going to a carbon wire, I have soldered the connections on solid core wires ans used shrink tube over that for water and corrosion.
I know the plug caps just fold the carbon wire over and crimp it on, but that is going to a brass type connector not a tinned copper or stainless steel

I've never spliced wires. I'm not sure how you'd make the connection. I would suppose a mechanical splice of some sort should work as long as you can make high-voltage proof.

Copper to brass should be no problem.

loudhvx wrote:

You only want a resistor in one place. The resistor can be the wires, or the in the plugs, or in the caps. I prefer carbon wires as the resistor, then use no end caps and no resistor plugs. Copper wires with resistor caps should work (with plain plugs).

Am running Z1 and KZ900 with Dyna ignition, Dyna green 3 ohm coils, Dyna copper-core plug wires (equipped with pre-installed caps), and NGKB8ES non-resistor plugs. Thinking the caps are non-resistor, so there's no resistor in place, but wish I had done a pre-installation ohm check on the Dyna wires.

Ignition seems flawless as is, but wondering if using NGKBR8S resistor style plugs would be an improvement such as even stronger spark or some other advantage. Guess I'm not understanding reason for resistance being useful somewhere between coil and business end of plug, other than reducing audio interferrence. As known, these old '73 and '76 bikes do not have an igniter, if that's relevant.

Keep me out of trouble

From what I understand, the resistor is only to reduce radio interference. That may affect some electronic devices, but I don't think it should affect the Dyna s ignition (or even the stock Kaw ignition). It would only affect things with a processor like Dyna 2000 or 3000 ignition.

An AM radio will definitely pick up the ignition signal though. I haven't heard of non-resistance ignitions affecting the voltage regulator. I know I've heard of it being outlawed in some racing applications because it screws up some fuel injection computers.

Adding resistance will only slightly decrease spark energy. I'm not sure if having no resistance affects anything else, like spark plug tip erosion.

I am using carbon core leads with Dyna coils and the standard NGK screw on caps with no problems yet. Mind you I have only done the 1st 8 miles after a complete engine rebuild so I have no long term results yet