Coil on cap my butt
 

Sorry for the vulgar title but I just finished the coil on cap mod.

MOST of the info posted on other threads was superfluous.

No offense to anyone who posted info but here is what I found.

Myth 1: You dont need to remove tank, airbox and plastic shroud (which is a pain).

You only have to loosen the left side fairing (you can leave the mirror). Then you yank the coil. You do have to move the oil cooler unless you like skinning your knuckles often.

Myth 2: Its the same as changing spark plugs.

For plugs, you dont remove anything. It can be done as is. For COC mod, you have to remove the right side tail fairing to get to the coil.

So you do have to lift the tank to fit your hand in to get the rear coil in.

Myth 3: You can use the plug boot rubber wedge piece.

I used 600rr coils which seem shorter than the photos of 1000rr ones. I basicly had to trim rubber til there was no rubber at all so used the boots that came with the coils.

ALSO; The CBR head must be different in order to snugly hold the coils secure. I plan my bike to last me forever so didnt trust the coils to be OK without more support.

To help this I use a 3/4" piece of rubber hose cut like a C. I put it around the coils upper rubber rings and slid some bike inner tube over it. This made the coil rock solid and combats water and vibration.

For any of you guys who didnt add support to the top of the coil in front, you should check the solidity of the coil. They are not meant be cant that far forward (cbr heads are upright). They also fit snugly at the top in the cbr holes.

The coils are too heavy to be supported only at the bottom (thus the way Honda put them in the CBR).

I am sure there were other issues but I probly blocked them out right now.

Happy to have the job done. More test riding tomorrow.

Myth 1. guess you will never be a brain surgeon.

Myth 2. I did lift the tank. I didnt undo anything on the front fairing. I may have undid something on the back.

Myth 3. Mine have a rubber sleeve up them the whole way and they are rock solid. Done about 8k on them now. So agree on this point.

But I do know it took me longer to solder the wires than to remove the old coils. I suck at soldering.

So obviously that post was after the frustration had not subsided. Maybe different routing but lifting the tank and airbox had no effect on the front one. Only the back.

(I wrote that based on some pics of the tank, box and shroud off, which is overkill).

And yes, the fine Mr. Spokes. Were you possibly the "spark plug" quote guy? Maybe?

The front coil cant be removed with the fairng in place, even with delicate feminine surgeon hands. The 8mm bolt are right up against it so me thinks memory may not serve you accurately.

The only other option would be cutting wires and leaving the coil in place for future generations, which is a mechanical faux pas (or serious laziness).

The important thing is that we agree on the stability thing. What did you use material wise.

I think that might have been me that made the mention of doing this mod might be as easy as changing the spark plugs. However, I did mentioned that when I did mine, the engine was out of the bike, so I wasn't positive. I appologize. Wasn't thinking man.

About the stability of the stick coils, I just stuck mine (off a '08 CBR1000) on the spark plug and meant to use the stock Superhawk seal, but never got around to it. It's been just sitting there on the spark plug inside the head for several thousand miles now. No issues...yet. I do have the stock seals that I need to whittle down and make fit some time.

OK...so an update. Did the mod late into the night last night. Did the shakedown run today maybe 15 min of mixed roads.

Idle worsened as ride went on. Off idle throttle stuttered.

Got to destination and found whole rear coil displaced. That stinks.

So I removed the base rubber wedge that I had butchered (surgicly of course) and popped the coil back on.

Performance went to perfect or better.

Got home and hooked up my rear one with the rubber hose and bicycle inner tube grommet setup.

This is very solid and holds tight.

If anyone decides to do this mod yourself, please take these steps. The coils are way heavier than stock plug caps (of course). They are subjected to violent vibration and shock.

Honda knows they need support so on the bikes where they are stock they are totally supported.

Here is a video of the CBR donor bike showing how Honda engineers think they should be supported.

If you dont do simiar bolstering, you are not going to have a reliable bike.

That guy is nuts leaving the intakes uncovered