The left spark plug cable on my 81 xs400s is bad and I need a new one. My dad said he's never seen plugs that are threaded on the ends like on my bike, so he said I may have to order them online. I'm headed out in a few hours and I was wondering if I could expect to find plug cables that would fit my bike at a chain auto parts store like Pep-boys or auto zone?

i was unable to find any at a place like autozone. Just go to a local bike shop or dealer. I got new caps at the local Yamaha dealer with the threaded ends. As for wires, you may be able to get them at the same place, i just orded wires off mikesxs.

ALL plugs are threaded on the end under the screw on piece automotive plugs have on the end of them. Got mine at Advance, the bit that car plugs snap onto is a cap that screws right off, standard threading.

Any solid core non-resistance plug wire will work. Just make sure it's not that carbon core resistance crap, that won't work, but any solid core wire works with them as long as it fits into the fittings on the coil. Be glad you have the 400, the 1100 don't have replaceable plug wires, you can manage to replace them (usually) but you have to hack the coils to do it. Most install after market coils instead.

Not all spark plugs have the threaded ends but the ones that are threaded come with a thread on cap so they can be used with "standard" wires. Use the threaded ones.They stay on better. I agree with the solid core wire but you should use resistor caps. The caps are the end of the wire that pushes over the top of the spark plug. They screw onto the wire and are available separatly. Your 81 should have electronic ignition like mine and not the points style. See my earlyer post asking about proper cap resistance. If you look on mikes-xs they list non resistor caps (for the 650) only for point style ignition. They show 5K Ohm caps for electronic ignition, but it souds like our 400's came with 10K Ohm caps. I'm still trying to figure out if the 5K caps will work in place of the 10K caps.

I too need to replace my wires and the cap. I am getting shocked through the right side cap which does not feel good. Is there an easy way just to replace the cap and wire together or will I have to make my own assembly? Does anyone sell a ready to install cap and wire kit? (I am not very mechanically inclined and my 81 XS400 Special II needs help)