I had all the intentions of changing the plugs and wires yesterday on my 99 z28 (it has 65k miles and never had this done) I bought all the goods and then I came to it, the last twoplugs of the passenger side, they seem impossible to get to, can anyone give me advice? I tried going from underneath (as my haynes manual suggested) but had to remove a plate over the cat and some other things, wanted to see if theres a better way before i start taking everything apart...

thanks

 

Let's see ... if I remember right, I got #6 from up top, but I unbolted the little tube going into the exhaust manifold (part of the AIR injection??? ) to get more room to reach my arm back there. I still got a few scrapes 'cause it's pretty tight. #8 was actually WAY easier than I thought! I was able to reach right up there from underneath the car. Now you totally have to go by FEEL and can't see a THING you're doing, mind you!!! But that's how I did it. Oh, and I cut my RIGHT thumb really bad on the heat shields on the driver's side manifold 5 MINUTES into the job!!! That made it take twice as long (doing EVERYTHING with my left hand ).

 

i totally agree with removing the air tube. also maybe try removing the coil pack. gives you alot more room.

i ended up haveing both removed and laying across the engine bay to get my arm and hand in the right position.

good luck

 

That's hardcore wrenching right here.

Ben T.

 

It's about the only way to do it though!

If you think about it though, owning a sports car (I don't care whether we're talking F-bodies, 'Vettes, Mustangs, whatever) is often times more like having a "relationship" than it is just owning a car. So you get up close and personal and "lay" all over it?!

 

i like doing my performance mods myself, i guess so i can say i earned it completely, but seriously i've only changed my oil like 3 times. sometimes i dont have the patience to take it to the shop. plugs and wires? take it to midas.... lol its worth the ..what, 25 bucks? ....then again i have a friend that cuts me good deals there....

 

it's over an hours work...even for a shop....

so most will probably charge you $50 or more.

and really...it takes 30 mins to do the six of the plugs....then an hour to do the last ones.

 

It only took me 2 hours from starting til I could crank the motor. Removing the AIR tubes and setting them across the intake makes a big difference, and then removing the last two coil packs and setting them off to the side made it possible to reach the #6 and #8 from up top without a problem. I only got one cut on my hands throughout the whole process too On your car, since its not a '98, I believe you can remove all 4 coil packs on that side with just a few bolts, whereas I have 2 bolts per coilpack.

 

I took mine to a shop to have mine done and I went and checked behind them because I just had a fealing. What do you know they didn't do the 6 and 8 so I went back to have them do it and it took them 2 hours to get those two plugs. Next time I will just do them My self

 

EXACTLY...that's not the first time i've heard of such a thing. there were problems like that with changing plugs on the LT1s as well. hard enough that shops would scam you and never change them. can't count how many threads i've seen about a misfire and the cause was a horribly bad plug...due to shops not changing it when the owner paid for them to.

the 4 or 5 bolts for the coil packs aren't bad, 10mm deep socket should do the trick, i suggest pulling out that plastic press fit BS thing holding the plastic molding on the cowl out...its sharp...and really cuts you up.

i'm constantly amazed at how much more access there is now that i have headers

 

thanks guys, gave me a lot of help. I was thinking about going to a shop but was also warned about them not doing the #6 and 8. I'm just gonna set aside a couple hours this week and do it myself.

thanks

 

Then that settles it! Headers for me next year!!

 

yeah...i can seriously change all my plugs in about 30 mins

 

We just changed the plugs in my dads Grand Prix...the Camaro is up next. I'm pretty worried about it though. The drivers side all looks pretty simple to get too, and at least the first two on the passenger side are visible..second two not so much. I was just going to take on for the team and have a shop do it...but if its as common as it sounds that they don't change those either then that doesn't help me at all. Maybe I can figure it out at some point..or find someone more mechnically inclined and have them do it for me

 

That's some hack shops not changing that/those couple plugs. If you can get directly underneath the car on that side, it's really not that hard to get at. And a shop should have a lift. I think that place "Just Brakes" is the only shop I know of without a lift. And teke's right, LT's make changing your plugs cake. I could probably do it in 30 minutes too, but half that time would still be devoted to that one damn passenger side rear plug. In terms of shops, where I used to work as a Service Manager we had a Lincoln Navigator or some big *** Ford SUV that needed plugs & coils. I came outside to see my technician sitting on top of the intake manifold. He sat on top of the engine to do the entire job. Now that's wrenchin'.

Abe