[Sarge2481]

So even after cleaning and servicing the spark plug wire caps, I was not happy with my ignition system, still missed a little until the bike was fully warm, idle was not great, etc. Looked around and found a few posts on the site about what coils people used, but not much in the "how to" information was given as well as no pictures, so I figured I would make one for anyone wanting to do the same mod.

First of all, you will need to get ignition coils and the wiring harness from a 2005-2008 Kawasaki ZZR600. I got a set of 4 used ones on ebay for $24. Next you will need 16-14 AWG male spade connectors, I bought insulated ones to help protect from water intrusion. And lastly you will need some 1" PVC or CPVC pipe to make a rigid tube so the new coils don't flop around all over the place.

As far as how long the wire leads need to be, 4" will give plenty of wiggle room with the harness as to not have tension on it, but I cut mine to 4 1/2" just in case of any screw ups. After some trial and error, I cut the 1" PVC into 4 1/8" lengths, as that seemed to put some slight tension on the coil seal, yet still fully seat the coil onto the plug. After cutting the wire leads to your desired length, strip the ends of the wires and crimp on your male spade terminals.

Now if you haven't already, remove the fuel tank, rear grab bar, and side fairings, and remove the 2 stock coils and wires. You don't have to remove or loosen the front fairing, but it does make getting the coils out easier, but since the coils are each held in by 2 10mm bolts that you can access with a wrench without too much effort, I opted not to. Once the old coils are unbolted and disconnected, connect your newly made harnesses to the bikes coil wires. To hook them up, make sure the red wire connects to the red wire, and the other colored wires connect to each other. In my case I wrapped the exposed wires together with electrical tape to protect them and keep them together out of harms way while on the bike.

Pull the spark plugs out and regap them to .031in (OE gap is .025in) if the plugs are newer like mine, if they're not then this would be a good time to put some new plugs in. Now that your plugs are gapped to .031in, your harnesses are connected, and your PVC is cut to desired length, drop the PVC down the spark plug hole, it will fit fairly snug, and then install the coils and connect the coil harnesses to the coils. There should be enough fuel in the carb bowls to fire the bike up for a few seconds to test it, and if there are no problems with its running, then go ahead and put the bike back together. Here are some before and after pictures of the top of the motor:

Above picture is the before, and my bike doesn't have the PAIR system so if yours does it will look a bit different, below picture is the after.

So far I have only taken it for a 30 minute test drive, but from startup I could tell a noticeable difference, and now will never have to service the plug wires.

 

[yorkie]

good write up. I did this conversion years ago never looked back.
however I did things a little different. I used CBR600 COP's there a little shorter than the ZZR ones so do not move about as much, probably because they are also fitted with rubber boots that grip the plug and have a slide-able donut on the upper part for stability.
also they have a Ohms rating of 2.4 which is nearer to the stock coils at 3.Ohms so no need to re-gap the plugs.

the effectiveness of PVC pipe long term will have to be established it gets hot under there. lets us know how it goes I do believe one of the early pioneers of this mod (@InvisiBill) made some brackets bolted to the PAIR blanking plates for the same reason of stability. but if the pipe works it's a good alternative.

now you have them fitted do you find it seems to start quicker and run a bit smoother I did. I believe it is because the COP's have a quicker spark recovery time. COP's are a good worthwhile conversion for this bike. well done.

 

[Sarge2481]

My bike starts now with no choke, whereas before I would have to give it choke, but once it started I could take off choke and it would still idle. No hesitation, no missing under load while cold, and even acceleration seemed smoother after it was warmed up. It does start quicker, and overall just seemed smoother, granted this is after only 1 cold start so we'll if it continues as nice at it did today. Also CPVC is rated for higher temps than regular PVC, CPVC is the standard used for water heaters now.

 

[Rammelbak]

I used CBR600 COP's there a little shorter than the ZZR ones so do not move about as much, probably because they are also fitted with rubber boots that grip the plug and have a slide-able donut on the upper part for stability.

Do you maybe have some more information on which model and year of CBR600 the COP's that you used came from? Or perhaps a picture?

Edit: are they perhaps these COP's?

https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cbr600rr-2004-4-england_model2401/capcoil-ign_30700mee641/#.X4VqubJR2Uk

 

[yorkie]

hi. yes they look similar to those new ones. but I bought a full set of used ones (with all the bits you don't get new)
I will have a search and see if I can find the exact ones I got. not sure of the exact model TBH but I believe the colour of the disc on the top relates to the OHMS rating if you look at those it's just a white blue sticker. on Sarge's ZZR ones they are white. they also come in red and yellow and blue I think. give me some time to look.

 

[Rammelbak]

Cool, thanks. No hurry, the GPZ is running fine at the moment. But I know of one of my spark plug caps has gone bad, so in the near future I'll have to replace them. This seems like a nice upgrade while I'm at it.

In the Netherlands a used full set of COP's with the connectors corst around 50 euro. This is the sticker on the top:

 

[yorkie]

yes a good conversion in my opinion. considering some of the issues with the stock installation. I have looked through my E-bay account at past receipts all it says is Honda 600 coil pack in brackets CBR complete set. £25 (sterling) I bought them as listed because they were the cheapest on E-bay at that time (it was only a experiment) providing the listing was accurate (never trust E-bay) that is what they are. to be honest there are so many different makes and models of bike using Cop's I think any of them would work just the same. shop around when you need them. it is easier to convert if you get the sub wiring harness at the same time. I also only use Iridium plugs but have no idea if that effects the performance of the coils. might be worth considering when you convert yours.