I just bought my 04 Twin Peaks 700 (aka Prairie 700) and went through it all, changed fluids, checked and adjusted valves.

I went to change the plugs and found them difficult to take out. Normally once you un seat them they should be able to be removed by hand. The engine was cold. After taking them out they looked like the spark plug was not even seated all the way in due to mud showing 1/4" down the plug, about 1/4" away from being seated fully. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img] I bought a tap 10mmX1 and ran the tap in there with some WD40 and was careful to keep the tool clean so shavings wouldnt fall into the engine. It did have some metal shavings on it. I was able to run the new plugs all the way in and tighten them down with no problems. I was sure to use some good antisize from NAPA on the new plugs. Should I be concirned about the threads possibly stripping out in the future? What would be the fix if they ever do strip out?

 

helicoils

 

I thought about that, but you would have to tear the whole engine down to put them in, right?

 

if you have enough room to drill plug holes out no just drill - tap - install insert break off tab do this with piston on tdc so you can take magnet remove shavings tab off insert is stainless may have to blow air in hole to remove debris i have done this 2or3 times worked fine not on this model of bike

 

Hmm, ok. How close is the piston when at TDC? ALso how close are the valves to the port? I found this generic drawing and looks like if you go too far you would dill/tap into the piston, or valves.
Diag link

 

I found this if it ever does become stripped out. Still sceptical to do it with the motor all together due to the shavings.

Spark plug time sert
Instal directions

 

Magnet's don't pickup alumium shaving's if you must use a thread chaser's with the possiblity of shaving getting in the combustion chamber ; when the job is done leave the (spark plus out) and turn the engine over serval time's this will blow the shaving's out of the cylinder ! ..............williebee

 

some engines have steel thread inserts in spark plug holes thats what i was refering to

 

It's still safer to crank engine over a few times and let the force of engine compression blow out the shaving's either way , also you can add a table spoon of acetone in the cylinder this will help cleanse the oil from the shaving's ! ..........williebee

 

Gus,

I just stripped the threads on my BF750 pretty bad and was trying to figure out what to do with them. I ripped the head off and took it to a shop to have them repaired. The shops supplier is on back order so I started looking for myself and ended up ordering the time-sert today. I was too concerned the helicoil would back out due to it being steel and the head aluminum so I wanted an insert. I've never torn my BF apart like this and it took me about 3 hours to get the head off.