I want to change spark plugs in my 2002 Z28.First ofall how difficult are they to change; secondly what are some good plugs for mainly street driving with an occasional blast with a mustang? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

unbolt the AIR tubes and remove the coil packs...will make access much easier.

also try jacking the motor up a little bit...could give you the 1/2" of clearance you need.

or you could go crazy and remove the motor mount bolt

 

For the passenger side rear most plugs lay on the fender and reach back over the top corner of the tappet cover with your right hand to get the plugs in and out.
the best tool set up for plugs is a 3/8" drive sparkplug socket, a true 1" extension, and a swivel headed ratchet. You can get every plug with this combo.

NGK TR55 plugs gapped at .050

 

Is the NGK TR55 what you would recommend for a stock engine with no mods yet, ( intake, exhast, pcm tune will be soon) and is .050 what they should be gapped at instead of .060 ?

 

That combination of plug (NGK tr55) and gap (.050) has been in my car since the beginning. From 13.3 @ 105 stock to 11.22 @ 119 heads and cam.

It works.

 

the plugs come pre-gapped to .050"....stock is supposed to be .060".

you can regap them, but it really won't make any difference.

but whatever you do...CHECK the gap...sometimes they get messed up in the box.

 

If this is the first time the car is going to get new plugs you might run into some issues with the wire boots being stuck on. I did and my car only had 35k on it. It's particularly a PITA because the passenger side area is too cramped for you to get a chance to really yank on it. If that happens you will probably end up destroying the wire trying to get it off. Whatever happens, be sure to put some di-electric grease that you can pick up at a local auto parts store that way you don't have that problem again.

 

make sure your engine is stone cold, too. Broke the return line on my power steering pump reservoir when the ratchet slipped off of the #1 plug. I wouldn't bother unbolting motor mounts or removing coil packs unless you deem it necessary. I got away without it with the help of a skinny friend.

 

Oh yeah, and keep in mind that you might want to attack it from differant angles. I ended up changling the passenger middle plugs by winding my arm up from the front while leaning over the bumper. I just couldn't get a proper angle coming from the side.