How do you tighten your spark plugs?

[King Rat]

I think someone is making a flagstaff out of a matchstick.

I do use an anti-seize compound though - but not coppaslip. I was told by a Naval engineer that you are then introducing another metal into the equation and increasing the chances of bi-metal corrosion. I use aluminium based paste that is used for airhead exhaust nuts. Comes in a white tin and I am buggered if I can remeber its name. I have enough to last the next two generations of our family being aluminium based it is the same as the head anyway - and if ti withstands the exhaust temperatures, it won't do any harm on the cooler side. Just use a tiny smear, that is all you need (if anything) or you could use engine oil, which will burn and go black and treacley.

 

[cookie]

do em up by hand. if you can't guess the right torque you probably shouldn't be let into the tool box in the first place. learn on something cheaper.

never had any corrosion probs using copperslip, but there's never any trace of it left next time, so probably a waste of time.
i think the previous poster is referring to Optimol anti-seize paste. works much better, and tends to stay put in extreme heat.

 

[King Rat]

Cookie - thats the one, white tin from Motobins or motorworks. It is also used by VW for their drive shafts on some cars. It is much better than coppaslip. Bit of belt and braces mind.

 

[rc mad]

I usually just do em up hand tight then half a turn, but when doing the latest service one of them was realy loose and took no effort at all to remove. To me that could cause compression problems, it could have come loose because its a thumper but from now on i'll torque them to spec. Just waiting on the socket to arrive now

 

[Comfy Old Boots]

:

I hear you can buy cans of compressed air in good photography stockists. Good for blowing the shoite out of the cylinder heads. nothing worse than the feeling of ground grit.

the can i bought was seperate to the nozzle that screws comforting arround the wide attachment on the can. H

 

[motobiker]

:

I hear you can buy cans of compressed air in good photography stockists. Good for blowing the shoite out of the cylinder heads. nothing worse than the feeling of ground grit.

the can i bought was seperate to the nozzle that screws comforting arround the wide attachment on the can. H

I don't like the idea of that.. makes it far too easy to blow rubbish into the combustion chamber. which is the last thing you want to happen.

I'ld rather be sucking than blowing.. maybe one of those snazzy little hand held vacuum cleaners would be a better idea.

 

[Stewart H]

I use my compressor and a blow down gun to blow the bits and pieces away before removal of the plugs, its surprising how much crap blows out too, to remove and refit plugs I just use the tool under the seat, a thin smear of grease on the threads and a little experience

Stewart

 

[King Rat]

Aha, it is that "experience" bit Stewart. It doesn't come in a tin.

A bit of nouse can go a long way too. I think the most important accessory though is CONFIDENCE. Confidence in your own abilites. If you are in doubt as to how difficult it is to work on a twin designed before the war (OK, upgraded a bit in the intervening years, but more or less the same) then you need to read a bit, that's all. If you are intelligent enough to be able to read a Haynes manual, owners manual, any other sort of manual, then you are clever enough to work on your engine. Whether you have the motivation to do so is a completely different arguement.

Now, when it comes to computers and anything electrosised, that's a different matter. It's all coloured spaghetti to me.

 

[cookie]

nothing worse than the feeling of ground grit.

cheaper than loctite