Today I looked at a friend of mines 2002 firebird v6 and noticed that it looked weird. It had the spark plugs clearly out in the opn easily reachable from the top side of the engine. If i wanted I could have removed them like it was nothing. But on my 99 camaro v6 The spark plugs are a total pain to get at because most of them are on the underside of the engine under the exhaust manifold. On his firebird the exhaust manifold was under the spark plugs not above them. I guess my question is was the firebird engine bay bigger? Or is there something that is different between the camaro v6 and firebird v6? It just kinda bothers me that his engine is so easy to work on compared to how mine is crowded in there. Any knowledge on this would be helpful. Thanks

 

Maybe it's the difference in model years? Not sure. My plugs and wires were pretty easy to get to on my '02 3.8L.

 

Is it possible to get pics of both engine bays?

 

shouldn't be different from the point of the motor. mine is a 2002 and the plugs were still really hard to get at.

 

The engines are the same Camaro and Firebird. I think what you are seeing is the change of the exhaust manifolds. The 99 is the last year for the crappy cast manifolds. 02 would a header like exhaust manifold.

 

Yea I think Gorn you are right. Because I had a better look at his today and realized the exhaust manifold was the difference. It is more spread out and lower than the plugs. While on my camaro it is very compacted and above the plugs. Also his doesnt have a heat shield.

 

Notice the manifold and how you dont see any spark plugs.

 

Notice how the manifold is not bulky like mine and how you can see the boots on the spark plugs.

 

Your 99 is like this


The 02

 

That's good info there. I never knew there was a production change on the exhaust manifolds of 3.8s. Thanks to both of you for posting the pictures.