Yeah, my first post.

I've been reading this forum since I purchased my '07 LS650 a couple of months ago.

I did the sparkplug mod yesterday.

I also cut out a 10mm square notch from the inside front corner of the cover, as it kept stopping when being swung open.

I was lucky enough that the tank lifted up pretty easily (I had disconnected the vapor line & fuel line) and I jiggled the tank to the left until the petcock was clear then just put the tank back on top of the frame.
Not sure why people have needed to disconnect the speedo cable? (guess older models have slightly different setups.)

That left more than enough clearance to get at the plug and remove the rear cover bolt for the mod.

Getting the tank back in place however did take about 10mins of jiggling and swearing to get back into place.

And after doing all this, my tool kit that was in the bike when I purchased it, did not have the sparkplug socket.  Got one arriving tomorrow morning (11/16" deep socket from powerbuilt)

Thanks to all the experienced members who post these great tips.
I am totally inept at mechanics, but even I reckon I can do most of the mods I've seen here thanks to the pictures.  Pity most of the threads have had the pictures removed, but I saw a post someone mentioned about the forum hosts limitations, and habit of moving/removing parts of the forum at whim, so if I really need pictures to grasp a particular concept, I will ask.

LostArtist wrote on 04/12/10 at 21:35:43:

18mm = .709"
11/16" = 17.46mm

LostArtist wrote on 04/12/10 at 21:35:43:


As I now am completely aware no it does not.
The 11/16" was too small by about 1mm all around the od of the plug.

A sales rep who comes into my work is a bit of a m/c fan, and went back to his place to get me a 18mm deep socket.

But as is typical of my luck with engines etc, he bought back a 1/2" drive socket, and I had to go thru about 3 different sets in our shop till I got an adaptor that wasn't too wide so I could turn the darn thing.

All the ones I already had were 3/8".

Finally got out the plug that was in the bike when I brought it, it was a NGK d7ea???  I put in a NGK dpr8ea-9.

Would the d7ea have caused anything bad to happen that I should take a look at?

Now I need to go and order a 18mm deep socket as the rep wants his one back.