Metal Covered Plug Caps

[AshimotoK0]

My UK 750K0, CB400F & 450K0 Bomber all came originally with metal plug caps.

Much maligned on here I know but for originality I am fitting them. I managed to get NOS ND ones for my 4 cylinder bikes  but the Bomber ones are hard to come by. also one of my NOS 4-cyl ones got badly damaged with acid. So this week I managed to de-crimp the corroded one and replated a grotty looking Bomber one. Pretty sure my CB250K0's and K2 would have had them but not found any of those yet.

I plan to do some tests on them to see why they tracked over the HT in the wet. It's not obvious looking at them why they would track. I suspect the rubber insert may not have sealed too well but a new part moulded in silicone may fix it. A lot of heathen dealers (like the one who supplied my 1st 400F ) just ripped the metal covers off and damaged the grey plastic body in the process.

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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

That type of plug cap was  also fitted to the Opel Rekord (D) Coupes back in 1973 I was drivng one down to Cornwall for our sumer holiday when the car dropped onto 3 cylinders in heavy traffic. Being an automatic it was it was almost undriveable.

One of those caps had failed plus the leads were the then quite new carbon fibre type leads - I used a Nappy pin to replace the cap - it worked a treat.

[AshimotoK0]

That type of plug cap was  also fitted to the Opel Rekord (D) Coupes back in 1973 I was drivng one down to Cornwall for our sumer holiday when the car dropped onto 3 cylinders in heavy traffic. Being an automatic it was it was almost undriveable.

One of those caps had failed plus the leads were the then quite new carbon fibre typ leads - I used a Nappy pin to replace the cap - it worked a treat.

There are plenty of other people fitting them to our bikes Ted for originality ... I bought 5 sets of each cheap and kept one of each set for myself and sold the rest on eBay. They didn't hang around for long  before being sold ! My 500K0 didn't have them as it is a 1st batch USA (squared off crankcase) bike and they were never fitted in the US. The 500 ones (fitted to UK and European bikes)  are the same as the 400F ones.

[MCTID]

When I lived in Toronto I bought a new Suzuki GT500 in 1977 which had galvanised metal shrouds on the spark plugs. It was a great bike but it suffered an intermittent misfire. The Suzuki Dealer had it back a couple of times to try and cure it, but he said 'all was well'. Eventually I told the Dealer that if it didn't get sorted out I'd be taking legal action to get my money back. After a couple of days, the Dealer told me that he'd tried everything but couldn't find the problem and so he left the bike running in the garage..........and as it was in a dark corner he then noticed the arcing from the plug shrouds to the cylinder head......Eureka ! The shrouds were cut off !

The bike ran like a dream after that and I rode it across Canada and the USA covering 6,000 miles in three weeks - and it never missed a beat.

No doubt you'll sort out your OEM shrouds Ash.......but at least you'll know where the fault lies if you do suffer a misfire.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I was told they were used  to surpress radio interference back in the day.

[AshimotoK0]

I was told they were used  to surpress radio interference back in the day.

Evidently the 1st Kwack triples  CDi's played havoc with TV's 

[Bryanj]

We were one of those dealers that removed them at pdi as you could just about guarantee a misfire when the british liquid sunshire arrived

[Skoti]

Aye Bryan,

I remember 'shelling' Honda plugs caps as a young apprentice back in the seventies...

[AshimotoK0]

Pretty crap that Honda didn't address the issue with the suppliers Nippon Denso. The metal cover EMC shielding (fitted as way back 1966 to UK CB450K0 Bombers)  was decades ahead of it's time and such a shame that the design wasn't re-engineered to cure the arcing. As I said, I can't see any reason why it can't be re-engineered to work perfectly in the wet. I guess modern silicone mouldings were not around then within the automotive industry.

Those caps were also fitted to Z1's ... wonder if it was the same on that model in the wet. Genuine Z1 metal caps are ££££ I gather. I got all of my Honda ones  cheap because DS had them in his USA warehouse (relatively useless to U.S. customers) but not listed on his UK site.

Watch this space to see if I can solve it.