Ducati Monster Forum

i understand to buy the best. but..  id like to put some 8mm wires on my bike. mine are old and hard. i have new ngk dcpr8e plugs and mtx caps. my wires screw into the coils.   oreillys ordered me a spool of 8mm standard ignition mag core wires. is this ok? its only 15$. i dont want to overthink this. my plugs have resistors so im ok there. the wire i bumped up to 8mm. dont know why buit sounded good. i dont want to order and wait. i called ducati in portland and they said dont waste the money, go to a parts store. so will these work.?? thanks as i have many other questions. i just need it to work. and is 8mm any better than 7?   simple answers please.

First, there is no need for 8mm wires on your bike.  That is a leftover from the high ouput ignition systems on some cars in the late seventies and early eighties that were capable of producing as much as 40k volts, double of about what your coils produce.  These systems also ran spark plugs with very wide gaps.

I have no idea what you are buying from O'reillys, but whatever you buy should be solid core wire.  This would be a good example:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/184286080389?chn=ps

Also. do check the resistors.  They should measure 5K ohms.

i needed that.thanks. i ordered 5 ft of 7mm copper core. .9mm gap on plugs?

resistors on plugs right? and if they dont reach that?

resistance is 5k ohms on plugs. thanks howie

The OEM caps  that fit on the plugs with the original wires.  The mag core wire would be replacing the resistance of the caps.  You can do the mag core, but the wires are less reliable.  Running solid core wires without the resistors would work for your bike, but make surrounding electronics go ape shit.

Oh, 6mm. on the plugs.

But I am ok with using solid core with my ngk plugs if they have resistors. correct.?   so on the ebay link you sent me i bought the cheap sollid core for $1.39 a ft.(2nd product from left) will that work. i didnt see the 440 wire or i woulda bought thought. am i all good?
i thought i shoulda got woven strand though. overthinking i hope

as for the .9mm gap on plugs. you have 6mm in last post. i think something got lost in translation there?

 Your original wires had caps that screwed onto the wires and pushed onto the spark plug.  Occasionally they go bad.  For your reference, here is a photo of a used wire set:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/DUCATI-oem-SPARK-PLUG-WIRES-750-900-carbed-MONSTER-SUPERSPORT-91-01/123721506329  You do need them or an equivalent. Yeah, the decimal point went miising, .6mm or .24 ''.

OK Howie. the caps on there are MTN ??or something. ill just use those. but it was late and i just ordered that 7mm solid core that was in ebay you sent me. will that have enough insulation to hold spark correctly. not sure if it even has silicone . if not i dont want to put them on. thanks. see above texts for ebay with those solid core choices. second to left,,,$1.39

i dont mind going cheap but feels like im throwing ,tooo cheap  of,garbage on my bike

Listen to Howie.

7mm copper core wires with resistor plugs and MTN caps were oem on carbed models. NGK 5 ohm plug caps are an affordable replacement if you distrust the old ones. Use OEM NGK or Champion plugs set to 0.6mm. It's a basic ignition system with basic components. What matters is that they are in good condition.

I dont think the fancy parts are required unless other modifications require them as part of the performance package. If you really must go more modern and spendy, then NGK have fancy racing wires with a silicone outer sheath with 5 Ohm silicone/rubber caps. They may be 8mm iirc. I would only go that route if I was running super duper high voltage coils in order to prevent all that extra spark energy from escaping. But then I would only use high power coils if my stock coils failed or I was wanting to use high compression pistons in a worked motor. Sponsor California Cycleworks has high voltage Exactfit coils but then you would need to upgrade the wires, etc. To get the best out of high voltage coils you should use wide gapped iridium plugs like NGK DPR8IEX-9 set to 1mm or wide gapped regular plugs like NGK DPR8EA-9 left at their as delivered 0.9mm gap.

It's a slippery slope. ;D

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