LT1 Guy

How the heck can you get to the #5 and #6 spark plugs (I think it's #6, which every is opposite of #5 on the passenger side)? I have FLP headers and those plugs are right underneath the first bends. There's probably 1/2" of clearance between where the boot and the wire meet and the header.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

Sometimes you have to get the plug socket on the plug, and turn it with a crescent wrench. If the socket has a hex pattern on the back of it, this will work.

LTSpeed

Somebody (Summit maybe) makes a very short socket for just this purpose, but as was mentioned above, you have to turn it with a crescent wrench.

LT1 Guy

I can't even get to the boot. On the driver's side, I can see how that is possible. On the passenger side, I think I'll have to loose about 100 pounds. Even if I remove some of the hoses blocking the path, I still can't get around there. And forget about getting to it underneath. The car is sitting on a ramp that raises it about a foot off the ground.

I'm wondering how the mechanic I paid to do it the first time got around to it without taking the headers off.

Thanks for the posts so far.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

Loose a 100lbs...lol You sayin you are a big guy? Headers are a PITA to work with. It takes me 3 hours to change 8 plugs, and that is busting knuckles.

Captainofiron

iTrader: (1)

On the driver side I always have to take off the Manifold, it is a pain on that side, but on the passenger side its not so bad, What I did was buy a cheapo spark plug socket from like walmart and took it to my bench grinder and shortened the length then I got a combo wrench 15/16 I believe. I used the shorty plug socket on the ones I could get to, and the combo wrench on the plugs I couldnt get the socket too. Helps out alot.

Oh and alot of mechanics are sneaky, he might have taken them off and not told you. I would always catch the techs at the pepboys that I useto work at doing that kind of junk.

LT1 Guy

I'm 5'10" and only 180 some pounds (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more) of lean muscle... with some miscellaneous fat storages. I'd figure if I could be bone thin I could worm my way around the obstacles.

I recently busted up my left pinky finger changing my sister's fan belt. Some mechanic over-torqued a nut and I went ape **** trying to loosen it.

3 hours to change 8 plugs? I spent 3 hours trying figure out how to get to those plugs!

Oh by the way, it's not the plugs I'm trying to change, it's the wires. I keep melting the damn things. Every time I floor it, one of them melts. This will actually be my 4th time replacing them.

I'm trying to do this job myself--my sorry backyard mechanics skills prevent me from attaining this goal. I bought some header wrap, but unknowingly to me, you need the headers off to wrap them!

If I have to take the manifold off, I am going to seriously have to consider overpaying some ASE certified mechanic $350.00 to do the job in less than an hour (and keep my car for 3). I can reach all the boots on the driver's side except for #5 and on the passenger side, my arm is going to have to bend in 5 different places just to reach one of them (except for #4).

Your cheapo spark plug socket sounds like a good idea but I have no bench grinder and the tools I used to work with were a boot puller (waste of $20.00), a screwdriver, and an assortment of socket wrenches.

It has long been a conspiracy theory of mine that these mechanics do stuff and say stuff to make me happy. The guy I take my car to has worked on my car on numerous occasions and I'm quite comfortable with what he does. I just don't feel like shelling out $350.00 on a job that looks relatively easy to do.

Isn't there some kind of super secret squirrel **** technique I can use to get to them?

Again, thanks for the replies people.

Rickys S/C Z28

iTrader: (13)

yes there is buy a good floor jack so you can get that thing off the ground then get them from the bottem thats the best way. plus you will need the jack later on so it a good investment, maybe some jackstands also, and by good jack i dont mean the littel one from wal-mart

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

It is the joys of owning a car... I am 5'10, and 150 lbs (Air Force keeps me in shape...) I have look funny in some of the akward positions I have been in. I don't give up on stuff until it is fixed, cause you have to do it right. You will be suprised what you can think of when you have to. If you are melting wires, then you are way too close to the plug with them headers. I would advise getting different headers, or getting some kind of compensation, cause they shouldn't affect the function of your car in that way. As far as a jack and stands goes, that is a good idea. I can't get mine under the car on the frame, that is how low mine is..lol

savethelinoleum

iTrader: (3)

https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...1&page=6&pp=20

Two of us posted about our experience changing both plugs and wires in our LT1s... page 6.

The #5 is pretty hard to get to... I'm pretty sure that I had my right knee on near the strut tower and my left foot braced against something up front... radiator support or something, the point is I put my whole body in the engine compartment in order to get that wire off.

savethelinoleum

iTrader: (3)

LT1Guy what is causing your wires to melt repeatedly? Which wires are melting?

LT1 Guy

I have my car on ramps which raises it about a foot off the ground. Besides that, I can't get to the plugs from underneath. The headers are in the way. I have that weak jack that came with my car and I also have a 2,000 pound hydraulic one.

I haven't given up yet but I'm not sure how much longer I can stay sane with **** poor acceleration with lots of stumbling and a choppy idle. Sometimes I think the rpm's are going to drop so low that the engine is going to die at a light.

I've tried different setups (all of which I paid someone else to do): under the headers (lots of zip ties), over the valve cover, and back underneath the headers with pricer wires "designed" to withstand extreme heat temperatures. On all the previous setups I've had heat shields for the wires. I'm trying to do this myself I can route the wires the way I feel "safest" for them.

I only seem to be melting 1 or 2. The last time (over the valve cover setup) it was just the #5 wire. This time, I'm assuming it's the same wire. But, I want to check the others out as well.

Different headers... I paid a little over $1,000 for these FLP's (headers, y- and i-pipes, cats, and clamps) and I want to make them work. They were brand new when I bought them a few years ago and one of the last ones made by FLP before they stopped making them for the LT1.

That link has some useful information. I'll try it out.

I'm always afraid that if put my body weight into the engine bay, I'm going to kick or break something by leaning on it or pushing it too hard.

I don't know. And it's hard to tell which ones are melting because I have heat shields on all my wires. But, everytime I floor it I'll smell burning rubber and a few minutes later, my engine stutters like crazy.

There not the biggest headers on the market (1 3/4") and I seem to be melting just 1 or 2. If I can remove these wires I can identify which ones are causing me trouble and apply header wrap to the headers.

Thanks for the replies people!

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

I would say there's got to be a reason they stopped making them, they wouldn't work right. I have to install new Head Gaskets cause my #7 Cyl is miss-firing, and burning antifreeze when it fires up. I took the Pace Setter Shorties off, threw them out, and I am putting in Hooker Super Comp LT's when I get back from IRAQ. This all will be done without removing or raising the engine, as akward as it is already. I am good at moving big things in tight places...