Tales of the FNG

[Neup]

DO NOT SOLDER THE PLUG WIRES!!! Crimp a new connector, but do NOT solder it . It WILL fail SOONER rather than later. The stock plug caps also have a 5K Ohm resistor inside to reduce electrical noise to cars nearby. But, without the cap, you can run Iridium plugs and have them last for 15K miles without doing anything!
New coils really IS the best way to go. The coils and wires on these bikes are WAY past the replacement date, like me...

That's odd. I'm glad I checked though, thanks for letting me know! Out of curiosity, does the heat mess with the wires or insulation somehow?

I agree regarding the new coils. I have grand ideas of taking it apart this winter and doing a refresh/repaint which would include new coils.

[DiverRay]

This is for the spark plug end of the wire. The solder makes it brittle, and it WILL crack from the engine vibration. If you do the wire replacement on the old coils, you will have to solder them, but you also should be pouring epoxy on the the joint to make it stable.

[Neup]

IR temp guns are awesome!

So, I got the bike back up and running. I'm hoping to take a decent ride in a few days, just running short runs now. There are still a lot of things I would like to do with the bike, but for now, it scoots.

If you were guessing the problem was the bad spark plug cap that I found, you'd be right.

If you guessed I had broken pick up coil wires, you'd ALSO be right.

If you guessed I had a plugged petcock on the left side of the tank, well, that would be creepy. I found that problem late in the process.

All of these problems are now remedied (I swear, I drove the thing before I bought it). The cam tensioner seems to have a leak, so that needs to be addressed, but in the mean time, I'm hoping to be able to start driving it to work soon (240 mile round trip) and take advantage of decent weather.

Thanks again to all and I'm sure I'll be asking more questions soon. I'm glad I found this site.

[DiverRay]

The cam tensioner seems to have a leak, so that needs to be addressed, but in the mean time, I'm hoping to be able to start driving it to work soon (240 mile round trip) and take advantage of decent weather.

The fix for the leak, and other problems these have, is here:
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35501 Best thing you can do for these engines, IMHO. I've installed them on all my bikes, though I'm down to just one as of now. The second thread down lists all that will fit. If you look, there is a good selection so an ebay unit can be had for about $15 shipped if you shop a bit.