Spark Plug Suppressor

[Explorer]

Thank you for clearing that up Bob.

[Track T 2411]

Looking at Partzilla.com they list two part numbers for the 1000's, one of which is the same pn for the 1100. If anything, the difference would be appearance, not function, as there is no difference from 1000 to 1100 head castings...

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Ahhh, man, it's killin' me...I missed the post from wannaberidin' by a few days...somebody snagged the whole thing...well..."some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue", as they say...

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Sidecar Bob, I PM'd you...
A big Shout Out to Sidecar Bob for helping me out...much obliged!

Yeah, sorry guys - it's been a few days - in between work (dawn to dusk), the wife and grandkids, I've been hard-pressed to get back to the Monster on the slab...something always comes up on the weekends, those of you with wives know how That is...but Progress Report, I am probably/hopefully on the home stretch...

I have (so far) replaced/rebuilt the heads and gaskets(copper-sprayed, btw, after much research here...), carbs and coils, tank is (fairly) clean...I let it sit for a bit after cleaning and am seeing some flash-rust, which I intend to address again before I hit the starter...all the lights and horn work as they should, I replaced the belts and everything turns over smoothly by hand, the timing seems right-on...

I'm just making sure it fires and idles before I do a couple things (air-jet fix, new tires ($$$), and have to find a good place to mount the turn signals - probably through the license plate bracket mount since I don't have the grab-bar or the original seat, just one of those King/Queen seats..in Tan, actually, which I don't really see all that often during my searches for parts. I would of course love to have an OEM one, though, although Corbin makes a pretty cool one - and at a pretty cool price, too...:/

And even though the build continues for a bit, I'd like to add an additional very big Thank You to all you guys for humoring my questions and putting up with my simple inquiries. I never would have gotten this far without you.

[Sidecar Bob]

OK, but now I'm curious about the differences between the GL1000 suppressor seals and the ones for the GL1100 so I want to check that out so I can send you one that matches what you have (or failing that a pair if possible).

My 'Wing is mostly an '83 but it had a 1000 engine in it for more than half of it's life and now that I think about it I used the coils & caps from the 1100 with the 1000 engine so I probably used the suppressor seals from the 1100 too. But I had a couple of sets of 1000 coils at one time and I'm not sure if their seals went when I sold them (a long time ago) or if they are in the box of ignition parts in my attic. Or if I used a set of them on the '83 for some reason.

I'll have a dig in my attic tomorrow afternoon to compare the ones I have and hopefully see if I can tell the difference, then reply again here and reply to your PM.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Cool - and Thanks again! As far as I can determine, the '75 thru '79 used a lot of the same parts, so the Suppressor, or plug boots, or whatever, *should* fit...I've brought back a bunch of bikes, but this is my first 'Wing, and I tend to be a stickler for the correct parts, esp. if they're missing. (Anybody ever deal with a Yamaha Virago #2 Idler gear...??)

Like I said in a previous post, the suppressor/spark 'boot' was on the right side when I got the bike, and I saw a lot of pics of restored Wings that only had one, hence my question...but they look like the same thing, so it *should fit...

If you've got some, great, but if not, No Worries. Mine's a '75, btw....

[CYBORG]

Kinda on point.....Why on earth are these things called "spark suppressors"? And if correct, how do they suppress the spark? I can think of better names...... even "rubber thingys" are more correct in my mind.

[Sidecar Bob]

Nothing is called "spark suppressor". As I said in post #6 of this thread, the parts list calls the spark plug caps "noise suppressor caps" and the parts that seal between the caps and the heads "suppressor seals".
This hits one of my pet peeves: The tendency to call something by the least important part of it's proper name. That thing in your pocket is a "phone", not a "cell" (the cell is the region of reception for a cell tower). That thing on the side of your house that picks up TV signals from space is a "dish", not a "satellite" (a satellite is something that orbits something else, in this case referring to a box of electronics in Low Earth Orbit). I could go on but you get the idea....
And the "noise suppression caps" are first & foremost caps with a secondary function as noise suppressors so they really should be called "caps" and he seals should be "cap seals".

OK, I got curious and went up to the attic tonight. I found 6 of these seals, all of which are identical as far as I can tell (except that 2 have tears/cracks).
In the ignition parts there is a bag with my Wing's original coils and the caps, wires &c that I was using before I changed to the 1500 coils and stopped using the seals, including a pair of seals so I'm sure those are the ones I was using on my 'Wing and I am almost certain that they are the original ones from the '83 1100.
The other 4 seals were loose in the box (as well as a few spark plug caps and some GL500/CX650 ignition bits) so I'm pretty sure that they are from the '77 1000 I was driving when a car turned left across my path and wrote it off (this was in '95) and the '79 1000 carcass I bought to replace the '77's engine a couple of years before the wreck.
I haven't had 3 of either model so unless the '83 came with 1000 seals (not likely - it had only been used for a couple of years before I got it) or both 1000s came with 1100 seals I can't have had 3 sets of seals from either model.

So unless someone can say definitively that I'm wrong and demonstrate a difference I'm not seeing I'll say that AFAIK the only difference between the seals for the 1000 and 1100 is the part number.

I'll check the cost of postage and reply to that PM tomorrow.

[CYBORG]

i stand corrected. In post #1 he called it a plug wire suppressor.

[Sidecar Bob]

PM sent.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Just FYI, but the parts diagram I have lists them as: Seal, Suppressor 30705-371-000
OR: Seal, Suppressor 30705-463-000

...so that's what I called 'em..."boot thingys" works too, I guess...I have a '75 GL1000, so it might just be different years.


Bob, I PM'd you.

[redglbx]

Frank, I just call them “spark plug boot seal thingamajingy’s”

[Dr. Frankenstein]

(I wonder how you say that in Japanese....??)

[Track T 2411]

(I wonder how you say that in Japanese....??)

"Redundancy"

[Sidecar Bob]

Sometimes things get lost in translation. When I worked in the speaker industry we dealt with Japanese companies a lot. One of them sent a team to Canada to work with us to develop a line of speakers for them (this was a big deal because we ended up producing more for them than we did of out own brands and all of out other customers put together). Anyway, when their guys arrived they all spoke very good English but it took us a while to figure out what they meant by the phrase "saran baffle". In English "saran" means a form of PVC that is very stretchy but I guess the term went to Japan with the product Saran Wrap and became something different there because saran baffle turned out to mean a wooden frame with thin cloth stretched over it, what we would call the speaker's cloth grill....

Anyway, the seal is sitting here waiting to be mailed but I need more info from you (see my reply to your PM).