Hey..I'm trying to remove all my spark plugs out of my '83 305. And so far I have #1,2,4 and 6 out.

I'm thinking I'm gonna need a ball socket and a 1.5" extension to try and get the others.

Does anyone have any helpful tips how to get past the exhaust manifold and what not?

 

yep extensions and u joint socket extensions, anything it takes. theres a spark plug only wrench made for corvettes (corvettes in the 80's on sum years used tpi, developed for this purpose). its called sidewinder i think, its the best invention for spark plug wrenches. i do it it the old fashion way, takes an hour to change mine. its possible some dude get under the car to remove thier plugs. i got fat arms, 6'5 290pounds im able to get in there. you have to curse at it at least 20 times. http://toolmonger.com/2009/07/13/hot...chet-wrenches/

 

Curse at it 20 times!?!? HAha! Me too! believe me when I say I hate dropping the socket or extensions or ratchet!

I'm going to get a u joint socket and see if that helps. It's just the EGR stuff that kinda gets in the way and I don't know any trick around some of them.

 

you mean the A.I.R. stuff.. i drop that ratchet at least 10 times. its normal. youre one of us now. cursing helps, beer, even some trailer park boys breaks. www.free-tv-video-online.info

 

I get all of my passenger side plugs from the bottom of the car. Nothing special is required. The last plug on the driver side is also much easier to get from the bottom. Only pain in the behind is having to put the car up on jack stands so I can crawl under it. Other than that, it goes pretty fast.

 

Yeah..the air stuff. Just a pain in the butt!

But I'm probably gonna need a six pack to get the other ones out. Ahaha..trailer park boys?? lol!

 

Hmm..yeah I should try getting the plugs from the bottom. Hopefully that'll do the trick.

 

yeah, getting them from the bottom is the easiest way to do it, i think all you need is a short extention but I don't remember. besides, its no fun leaning over the engine all the time. haha

 

I dreaded doing the plugs for about a month. I bought the plugs wires.....and 2wice got under the car to do it and said screw it.

Did it this past weekend and it wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be.

Used a regualr 3/8 drive socket and the 5/8" sparkplug socket with the rubber doughnut thing inside removed. I think the only extension i needed was for the plug closest to the firewall on the drivers side. (got the first 3 on the DS from the top, all the others from below)

What worked out well on a couple was having my buddy there. i went from under the car put the socket on, then put the rachet on the socket after it was on the plug. He was up top holding the end of the rachet so i could turn the rachet with one hand break free the socket.

Dont rush, and you will get it done without a problem.

 

I don't know how you got the driver side out from the top when i have EGR or AIR stuff in the way. But I did get the 3 our from the PS on top. It's just crazy without the really nice tools. So I guess I'm gonna bug my dad for his mac tools or snap on.

 

I got the front 3 from the DS out from the top. How you got 3 from the PS, i have no idea.

As far as the tools. I bought a cheap ratchet and spark plug socket from that cheap bin at NAPA that I used to get the spark plug out of my sisters lawn mower. all I had to do was take out the rubber doughnut thing from the socket and it worked well on all of them.

 

yeah I notice that the rubber holder thing in the socket binds up the plug. But the plugs I have in there now are long JUSt enough where I almost need like a deeper socket. Otherwise when I try to put the whole thing on the plug, my extension pops off!

 

This is what I use on my number 5 and 7 because of the SLP headers on my engine, passenger side was a problem until i removed all the HVAC junk.
Take a spare plug socket with the wrench flats on top an remove the rubber inside of it.
First, drill out the rachet hole to allow the porcelain section of the plug to fit through, I think i use a 1/2" drill bit.
Then, cut as much of the hex side to allow the plug to fit through, and still catch most of the hex nut part of the plug. A cut off wheel will do just fine.

Slide it on the plug then use a round, box, (or even a rachet wrench if you have the room) to turn it.

I think you can buy them made like that, but it didn't make any sense to me when i can make one for next to nothing, I picked up a socket at a pawn shop, the guy didn't even bother to charge me for it when I asked how much.

 

Thats a good idea!

I have heard of people breaking the porcelain section of the plug off so that they did have a prob using a regular spark plug socket, or even a shallow socket if you run into clearance issues. Im not sure how i feel about that? I probably wouldnt do it, but its been done. If you have problems getting them out i guess you can do that as a last resort.

 

ooooh lol, i hated doing a plug change when i had stock manifolds. but i cant really remember what exactly i used, but it did take longer than i thought it shoulda. so heres some advice, get some headers , its WORTH it!

 

Headers?? Lol...maybe! but it seem so TIGHT in that area! And plus, I don't have that much money. :/

 

yes it does seem tight in thirdgen engine bays. but it wasnt as bad as i thought. pretty much the hardest thing about the whole swap, is taking out the stock manifolds lol. the headers are cake to install. and plug jobs after that are sweet and yeah, iv been there with the no money issue. i had to save up b-day money when i was 16 to buy them. and i baught them on ebay for $150. lol

 

I do this the same way as Saculia does... It is the easiest and fastest way on both my IROC and the Z!

 

Danng...Hmm..well if I want headers, I think I'd want the shortys.

 

I've got a 87 GTA w/5.7 TPI and it takes me about 3-4 hours to do....Spark plugs 2 and 4 are done from the top, the rest from underneath. Plugs 2, 3, 4 are the biggest pain of all, no room and can't see....just going by feel! Where I really lose time is removing the plug wire/boot, no room to pull, can't get leverage! Just removing the boot from spark plug #2 has taken up to 30 mins.

Did it once on a hoist, took 1 hour to do......I need a hoist at Home...LOL.

 

Yeah..I know what you mean by feel. Haha...I had to do that on my other camaro. And from that I don't even know if I got a few of them tight enough!