Afternoon all. Looking to change my sparkies so after some info on the Grade, Make & Gap people reccomend, Bike has a Full Termignoni system, P Commander, PowerFlow filters Etc. Now the Front V looks v simple, just unplug coil, remove coil & spark plug Etc. Rear v bit more fiddly... I take it the tank needs lifting at the rear at a minimum or removing all told , Are the securing bolts under the seat ?. Cheers Dean
On my monoposto it is just 4 bolts. Two by the side of the seat and two underneath the rear cowl. Tank then hinges up. You may need to modify your spark plug socket by thinning the sides down on a lathe. Access is tight and even the provided spark plug wrench in the tool kit may not fit.
Do mine with a standard Halfords socket set - just undo the four bolts, pivot the tank / seat unit up all in one and slide a piece of wood through to prop it up - think I used 6" x 2" to get the required clearance.
Noticed that the owners manual states NGK CR9 VX which dont seem to exist...! Most others State NGK CR9 E1X For the 749s
Im Still confused :Arghh: .. So which ones did you end up going with ? & why did you choose to avoid irridium ? I know you say running issues but what are they ? Cheers Dean
cr9eb plenty of threads on irridium plugs never had them in a ducati but pretty much everything ive ever read isnt positive
Hmm. Looking through the old invoices that last set fitted to mine were indeed Iridium .... ! I have ordered the CR9EB .. Picking them up after work tonight
Couple of reasons really, Service schedule & in preparation for a custom map, i also had a puff of black smoke & Grr at approx 5k Rpm when revving at a standstill. The Irridiums that came out had a huge gap & were quite worn / angled on the electrode, The front was actually worse to remove than the one under the Tank due to the connecter plug fouling on a rocker bolt & having v little room to pull it off, its easier to pull the coil pack out slightly first...
I had the problem of removing the stick coil as it would catch on the rad, so I carefully formed a slight curve in the offending lower most rad fin, with a ball pein hammer. All mine needed was a few mm and made stick coil removal much easier.
Heres one extract... Avanti Race Parts - Ducati Parts and Accessories for Road and Race Motorcycles. Services for Ducati Motorcycles. Race prep, Paintwork, ECU Repairs, Anodising and more!
I've iridium ngks in my 749s race bike. Used iridium on the last Ducati I raced and no problems at all. The best advise is to buy a thin walled 16 mm spark plug socket. Probably 3/8. It'll cost you about £7 on flea bay and well worth it. It will make the job easy. There is is conjecture about the height of the plug, champions are slightly taller compared to ngks and allow more grip from the socket. This didn't apply to me as I bought the correct tool. Do it. It's only £7!
From my reading of Shazaams article, he is saying that Iridium plugs give not only better service life but better throttle response as well, IF you use the large gap that comes set from the factory and if your plug leads are in good enough condition to allow the spark to jump that gap. Having done loads of reading on the subject, I took the risk, stuck a set in my 999 and they work just fine. The motor idles more stably and throttle response is indeed noticeably better.
Incidentally, I did order a supposedly thin-wall socket but it was far too long to allow access to the rear plug with tank just lifted And it wasn't thin-walled enough to reach the hexagonal flats on an NGK plug. I ended up using the Ducati-supplied plug spanner but filed down a bit on the corners. Iridium plugs should last tens of thousands of miles. The centre electrodes don't look like those on a conventional plug - instead of having a rod-shaped tip, it is sharp and conical, which may be why it appeared worn.
Does anyone side gap their plugs? Save Gas And Incerase Horsepower By Side Gapping Spark Plugs I`ve done this on an old BSA that I rode in off road competitions. It definitely improved starting and seemed to give better low rev throttle response.
