I just found out that Duncan Racing has them. If you get thier's you will save a couple of bucks. Thumpertalk sells them for $22.49 plus shipping. Duncan sells them for $15.00 and if you live close by you pick it up which means no shipping. The only thing is Duncan's only comes in polished. Thumpertalk sells silver (not polished) and blue. They will soon carry red ones.

excuse my ignorance, but what is a billet decompression plug? I have a 450 so how much do I need to know about them?

Nevermind, when I got to Duncan they tried selling it to me for $32.00. They said they don't know who told me $15.00. So don't get it there. The plug is hard to explain, but yes you need this. From the factory only on the 2004 model (fixed on the 2005) It is a rubber plug on the head. The compression release is in the motor. In the early models of the yz426, you had to manually decompress the piston to start the bike. They never rebuilt the head, they just plugged it. The cap gets blown off and you start losing your oil. The billet one goes on and never get thrown off. You don't ever need it to come off either so it is a good thing. Hopefully I explained it ok if not pm you # and I'll call you and try to explain it better.

any way you can post a pic of the offending plug?

Ian, here is a post on yfc central that talks about the plug and there are pictures in there.

The plug is on the right side of the bike if you are sitting on it, front top of engine. It looks like there is a bolt that holds the plug in, but it is there to hold in the decompressor on the yz's. The billet plug is longer and is held in by the bolt.

Hope that helps.

Click here for the post

Ian,

Did you get all the answers you were looking for on YFZ Central? That web page actually has a lot of good and useful information. When ever I'm trying to figure out something on my bike I always check there first.

I did, thanks, I think I want to pick one of those new plugs up, where do you think is the best spot, I am close to Alba, do you know if they have them? Thanks

They don't have them yet. They said in about a month they will have them in stock. Duncan has them but they're a pretty penny there. WWW.Walshrc.com has them for $9.95. They look different, but peeps on YFZ Central told me to go there. On that web page they call it "Nate Plug". I figure $10 there plus s&h is a lot cheaper then Duncans $32.00. I'm sure when Alba gets them, they will want in the high $20's also.

There are also some on ebay and I think the buy it now is $20.

Woodward said they would sell them for $10 each for members over at yfzcentral, but I dont think he has any yet.

No he doesn't yet, he said in a few weeks. He really didn't give a solid answer on when.

read about a couple guys overtightening the screw. Be careful when you put it in and make sure you get the rubber o-ring with it. The ones on ebay is the guy that first made this plug and they;re good quality.

Ya, I guess anything over 5 ft lbs is too tight. Is that about what you are hearing?

I got mine when they first came out and didn't know what torque. Just hand tightened and used lock-tite. I read a couple posts on yfzcentral.com where people had to pull apart the engine because they had to drill out the bolt that broke off and re tap it.

Without spending $ 10.00-$ 40.00 to fix the problem, why not simply "stake" the existing plug in the head.

Just take a small chisel or punch and punch a small "ridge" from the head on 4 sides of the plug and your done.

We have done this to over 40 different bikes and never had a problem.

Good idea. I'll give it some thought.