Tech Question (Buell motor)

First off, a round of what ever you are in the mood for this morning.

I was getting the Buell ready for some riding over the weekend and the
battery was a liitle weak when I first tried to fire her up.
After charging the battery for almost an hour she still would not fire. I
pulled the plugs and and swapped them for some new ones.
What I did not notice on the new plugs, the first thread was bent up. It
felt like the plug started going in ok and when I put the extension
and plug wrench on it, it only went about a 1/4 turn and I realized
something was wrong. I pulled the plug out and that is when I saw the damage
on the thread.
I tried with the old plug to see if the threads were damaged on the head and
sure enough the old plug would not start as well. Now comes the fun part of
having to take the motor out so I can remove the head and possibly run a tap
through the plug hole.

I would not pull the head unless you absolutely had to. Get a thread tap,
pack the flutes with grease and chase the threads. When done, blow it out
with compressed air and start it up. Any shavings left over are small and
soft enough that they will pass through the exhaust without damage.

Now for my question. Does anyone know what size thread that is? I brought
the plug into work and we figured it at M12x1.25 but I want to be 100%
positive before I start.

Jim P

Your local auto parts should have a chasing tap to clean up those threads
. And 12X1.25 is what my tap is marked . Be very careful to get it started
straight ...
I haven't seen how the Buells are set up , do you really need to pull the
head ? And does the motor need to come out to accomplish that ? I had an 88
Sportster , it was tight but the heads would come off without pulling or
dropping the motor .

Thanks Snag

The rear cylinder is the hardest one to get to.
I figured on pulling the head so I do not get any shavings in the cylinder,
just to be safe.
They do not give you much working room to get the plug in when servicing
them.

Buy a tube of antisieze and apply it to the sparkplugs from now on.
Always use it when servicing engines (any engine) with aluminum heads.

Thanks again

Jim P