i cant figure how to take them out

 

I don't understand the difficulty? Unplug a front plug wire, take a spark plug socket/ratchet and replace the plug- then put the wire back on.

The front 3 are cake, and shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to do all of them.

For the back 3, if you are having trouble accessing them- unbolt the two dogbones holding the top of the engine, and rock the engine forward. Then just do the same to the rear 3 plugs. Its really not that bad of a job.

 

One sure-fire way of making some room to access the Rear Bank of Plugs is to get yourself a Ratchet Strap. You make it easy on yourself to get-in behind there. I got the Ratchet Strap at a Hardware Store. Then, undo the Front two Motor Mounts from the Chassis. Hook the Strap in the Bracket on the Engine that is used to Pull the Engine out. Hook the other end down across the nose to an underneath frame member. Use a blanket of towel to prevent the Strap from chafing the paint. Crank-up the Strap nice and tight and it Pulls the Motor Forward away from the Firewall and gives you "Enough" room to operate. I also stuffed an old Sleeping Bag right on top of the Engine Bay and crawled right up on top of the Motor to get "Comfortable" making the reach down in back of the Engine.

If the Plug Cap boots are seized on to the Plugs ... Don't fight with them. Make a cut along the side of the Plug Cap to free the wire and replace the wires too.

 

When I replaced my back ones, the boots were 'fused' to the plug that didn't allow me to just pull them off. After speaking with a mechanic that owned a MC, he suggested I try to rotate the boot 360 degrees as often as I could before trying to pull them off. That often releases the 'seal' between the boot and the tip of the plug. That worked for me. Once the 'seal' released, I still had to pull a bit to get them off but they did. As for the ratchet idea, that would work too. All I did was release the main bolts off the dog bones, pulled the engine with a crow bar slid into that donut metal piece at the front of the engine (don't know how else to call it lol). Then, when the engine was pulled forward, I slid a lag bolt where the original bolt was and where it lined up once rolled forward. That held the engine there for me to work on the back plugs. It's still tight but it gives you more room to work.

 

thanks, i appreciate all the responses an advice.

thats what i was dealing with was the caps seemed wedged in there an i didnt want to screw it up. i'm going to try the turn 360 method.

oh, by the way rick, NICE vinyl top! looks clean

 

Sorry this sounds like such a dumb question haha, but when putting them in, how tight should they be?

 

i'd also like to know.

and trust me enzo, from the questions i asked so far, there is NO dumb question!

 

tighten them with ur ratchet til they are snug...and u have to use a lil force to get them out. dont use any type of air/power tool to tighten them. im sure there is a torque spec but its rarely used

 

Oh, so true......if you happen to have a ratchet stap laying around (or if you have access to one), just wrapping one end around the radiator support and wrapping one end around the brace bar beside the alternator and cranking the engine forward will give you tons of room to work back there.


If you still have the stock plug wires on, you may have to fight them a little to get them off. A set of pliers that can grab the boot so you can get a better grip on them may help alot (especially for the rear three). I just pulled them off by hand (although something to grip them better with may have reduced the amount of cursing that occured).

I also put a bit of dielectric grease in all of the new plug wire boots to hopefully reduce the chance of the wires sticking to the plugs again.

-Riggs.

 

thanks, all this info is really helpful