And speaking of spark plugs. My wife was married to a guy named Harry Fisher for 43 years. Harry was leader of the Victor Mclaglen Motor Corps in SoCal. Since I met her, I've learned a lot about the old Harleys they used in their act. Mostly 1940s, 1950s bikes. I noticed in her shop how many spark plugs were laying around, big piles, boxes full of these old huge spark plugs. She said that the old Harleys they used were needing new plugs all the time. They'd have to take spare plugs along on the road.

Weird.

 

put some dielectric on the top of the plug before reinstalling the wires. Its cheap.

 

Long as the bike is running right, no aggressive tune 30K should be fine. While mine was all a part few weeks back Figured may as well replace them . Had 15K on it they were fine. I was replacing plug wire anyway.

 

 

Why do I see a preview of a video on Google when I search for M8 spark plug change.

It is a link to this forum post, not a video.

 

I have the exact same tool as BarneyBoy. I just bent it at a 90 degree angle and it slips down beside the plug wire. just lift up while supporting the opposite side with your finger and the wire comes right off. Put just a little lubricant on the boot so that the next time you change it will come off even easier. I just unbolted the rear of the tank and supported it with a roll of duct tape and loosened the front. Be sure to blow out the debris from around the plug before you remove them because they are very deep set and tend to retain a lot of junk.

 

I had a 1980 Wide Glide and I always carried a spare set of plugs with me in addition to a full set of tools.

 

I assume the long change interval is a function of hoe difficult the plugs are to reach.

I’m absolutely paranoid about dropping, denting or scratching the gas tank during the operation.