I recently put hedman long tube headers on my T/A and noticed that its near impossible to get a ratchet and socket on ANY of the spark plugs. I spent a while pondering if i was gonna have to take them off to put the spark plugs in or find a way around it. I found special open end sockets online but they cost around 20$ w/ S&h and I didnt want to spend the money and wait a week to ship. It took a little ingenuity but this is what i did.

You'll need
a 5/8 deep socket(must have a bolt pattern on the end)
A cutting wheel
And a 3/4 wrench

Use a vice or some way to keep the socket still.
i used a 2x4 and an old screw clamp from a cold air intake kit and tightend it down.
Take the cutting saw and cut off about a 1/2 - 3/4 in. Off the end and theres your free open end spark plug socket
If this helps at least one person il be happy. Saves time taking off the headers to change plugs. And saves spending money on something you can easily do at home. Took me 2 minutes to do...

 

I made a similar device for my headers.

I got the socket form autozone for 4 bucks and the wrench came in clearance set for 3 dollars. I only had to cut the wrench. only works if you can weld. I have made about 15 of them for random friends.

 

Haha thats amazing. And I thought I had a good thought? Didnt even think to bust out the welder. I might just do the same as you and weld the two together. I dont use a 3/4 wrench much, and i have a couple to spare anyway. Thanks for the idea!

 

I think mine was a 15mm it was to small but I wanted a shorter wrench. So I cut the box end open and spread it after heating with a torch.

For some reason headers make spark plugs annoying for a lot of V8 owners and a lot of friends get them as gifts.

 

I use this style wrench for my plugs. I have straight plug heads and Hedman long tube headers. A 12 point is very helpful. This is similar to the one I use.

 

The solution has been around for a while, slp sells them, so does snapon, sockets are a PITA to cut, and the snapon one actually works better than a cut one.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

 

i've had a Craftsman wrench just like that in my toolbox for about 15 years, specifically for changing sparkplugs on small block Chevies with headers.. that wrench and a set of good Mechanix gloves and you can get all 8 plugs out of the engine in about 5 minutes- even if the engine is hot..

 

Each to his own. I prefer the pass-through or go-through sockets as seen below:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...w-headers.html

JamesC

 

I have the similar set from Kobalt, those things are life savers....well knuckle savers anyway

 

I built a similar one like above cut down a socket and wrench and welded together works great and can have my plugs changed in minutes

 

Dyno Don headers. Problem solved. Spark plug access is much easier than stock.

 

I worked for hours on trying to remove 2 spark plugs behind the headers. I tried everything, open end, socket with 3/4 wrench end, nothing worked. Went to Lowes and bought a Kolbolt (life time warranty) Pass Through ratchet set for $20.00. It had the 5/8's socket and with the open end the plug went right through and ratchet it right off in less than 2 minutes. I had no room between the plug and header to get it off. Wasted a day working on it. Hope this will help the rest of you and save you time.

 

Good thinking. Was just checking those out online. An interesting idea.

 

SLP still owes me a spark plug socket that was supposed to be in the installation kit for the tri-y headers I installed in 1989.

I use these home made tools:


This one is used for No. 6 & 8. Fits right on the plug.


This is used for No. 7. The ring keeps the socket from spreading open. Slide the ring up, put the socket on the plug, slide the ring down. Use a box wrench to turn.

 

I still have the SLP socket from my tri-y install kit