This is my first thread so let me introduce myself and my cars.

My name is Nick and I own and drive a 69 Camaro, w/ a 327 SBC, Edlebrock 600 carb, 69' Z28 manifold, power brakes with drilled and slotted rotors up front, 2" drop spindles, and a few engine dress-up items. Its nothing crazy yet but sitting next to her and waiting installed is a Currie complete 9" w/ 4.11:1 gears and posi, a built 700R4 trans, multi-leafs for the rear, and a 383 SBC in the works. All that is missing to complete the install is a new custom fit driveshaft.

My Girldfriend drives a blue 1990 IROC-Z28 w/ 5.7L TPI non-t-top w/ only 120,XXX miles on her. Its in suprisingly good condition. She got the car for a killer deal. A friend of her dad's sold it to her for only a $1,000 and its well worth at least $5k. The heater core went out and the a/c only blows cool, but thats another job to tackle later down the road.

Recently we just had the car smogged and it passed with flying colors in every catagory except for HC's (Hydrocarbons) which pegged the roof at 4000ish (should be around 400). Turns out that the dumb who worked on it last decided to route the #3 cylinder plug wire right along the exhaust manifold, causing it to melt the insulation, short out the spark to the manifold and cause a miss. Thats not a big deal since the wires are easily accessible. She's due for a service anyways, so ive decided to take an afternoon or two to bring her back to proper working order.

Now I am personally employed in the automotive field and certanly capable of doing all of the neccesary repairs but this will be my first time working on a 3rd Gen. Surveying the engine bay and scoping out how envolved this is going to be, ive come to the conclusion that this is NOT quick 30min task .

My question is, what would be the quickest way to R&R the plugs and wires while doing all of this in my driveway I have done a little bit of research and found that some people reccomend accessing the rear plugs from underneath the car. Is this true? or is there a quicker way by removing a couple things in the engine bay and coming from above?? If i was able to take the car to my shop it would make things a lot easier but s***** corporate policy prohibits it.

ohhh... and what would the reccomended gap be for the plugs??

Any and all Info, tips, random facts would be greatly appriciated.

 

Hi Nick, and welcome to TGO!
As for the rear plugs, under the car is the only way I found to do mine, but when doing just the wires on a friends 350 TPI we got them all from the top. We didn't do the plugs that day, but thinking back, we may have been able to reach all the plugs from the top. Best bet is to just give it a try, and have a jack and stands ready. I also like to have a few long extensions and a swivel for the ratchet. Maybe not necessary, but it sure does help when you're back hurts from leaning over the bay for so long... Another little tip I like is to get an old plug boot (like the one that the wire melted on) and cut it off. You can then slide that onto the new plugs to give yourself a nice little extension to work with, as you're hand threading the plugs into the heads. As for the gap... On the bottom side of the hood, there may be a sticker that looks like this:

If your girls' car still has this sticker, you can find the plug gap info on there.

 

Thanks for the tips. I hadnt thought of something as simple as using the boot like that. I know ive dropped a few plugs reaching in tight spots and that sure would have helped in the past. With all that in mind, it shouldnt take much time.