Wow...this is a great site! I'm trying to help out my Son who is low on funds change plugs and opti on his 96 camaro lt1. The quote he got from the garage was way out of affordability so we're gonna tackle this ourselves[sm=smiley5.gif]. I'm used to working on cars when you could pop the hood and actually SEE all the plugs....Does anyone have any shortcuts or good instructions/tips on how we tackle this? Also any links to other helpful sites would be great...thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated [sm=helpout.gif]

 

The best way to get to them is from under the car. It makes things much easier if you disconnect the head pipes from the exhaust manifold and let them hang down. Problem is the studs holding the pipes have a habit of breaking off due to rust & corrosion, so soak them with penetrating oil the day before. It helps to have a roto ratchet or at least a swivel head one. On some of the plugs on the right side it helps to have a plug socket wit a hex end. Put the socket on the plug and then use a ratcheting box wrench on the other. The car came originally with aluminum heath shields snapped on top of some of the plug wires, put those back to prevent the wire from burning. Also change the plug wires while under there as they don't last as long as the plugs. If the car is stock, put in a set of OEM (AC R43LTSP) platinum plugs gapped at 0.050". Expensive but worth itas you won't want to visit this job again for another 100K miles. Don't forget to use anti-seize on the plug threads, but keep it off the tips and electrodes, also use plenty of dielectric grease on plug & plugwire connectors.

 

Invest in a spark plug ratchet if you don't already have one. The driver side plugs are about the same from the top and the bottom, take your pick, they're the easy side. The passenger side, as Pete said, from the bottom. If you can get the exhaust out of the way, great, it'll also help if you pull off the starter, that frees up a bunch of room to get your arm in, especially for plug #8(far back, passenger side). Good luck, if you have skinny forearms it helps too!