I always put a drop of oil on the plug thread, but its interesting that the spark plug manufacturers generally recommend no lubrication as they claim it could lead to overtighten the plugs.
The one's I got out so far look bone dry apart from the brownish gunk at the top of the thread, it looks like gasket glue (Permatex) and is sticky

#6 on its way out and the dreaded #8 left, will see if I get lucky to get it out from the top, then install the pass side wires and reinstall alternator, belt etc

 

oil makes it slippery, anti-seize keeps it from sticking.

 

I guess the oil drop is an old habit back from the cast head iron days

But you are far from the only one recommend using anti-seize on the spark plugs on our cars to make the next spark plug change easier, and as some of them are hard to access, it’s probably a very good idea, just have to be careful to not overtighten.

Spark plug manufacturers however claim anti-seize is not needed as the plugs are factory-coated with a nickel plating that prevents them from seizing.

 

It’s been a while, so I start with a short recap:
Car surges when getting hot, believe I have excluded all possibly vacuum leaks, fuel pressure slightly low but car pulls good at wot and gets nice result on the short/long time fuel live data, same with the O2 sensors reg live data.

IAC and TPS have been replaced and MAF been disconnected without any impact on the problem.

Replacing the coil and ICM pushed the surge down to the 700-1000 area (before 700-2000).
I figured this might indicate another weak link somewhere in the ignition system, that is a fresh coil and ICM boosted up the spark and reduced the problem, so decided to install new spark plug & wires as well.

Finally got them installed this weekend.
As everybody who have done this know, the passenger side is no picknick, and while having starter, converter dust cover and alternator off, I took the opportunity to do some other work on those places too.

Plugs in there were NGK iridium and looked normal, no visual deviations between them but gaps were far off from what it should be, the wires were definitely old, possible the original ones.

So finally time for the test drive after all the hard labour, but sadly it didn’t cure the surge which was the same as before, I did however get slightly more throttle response though, but now it gets interesting as it suddenly throws a P1351 code that indicates a 4.6V limit on a circuit to the ICM has been crossed which was odd as I had not been in the neighborhood of the ICM or coil including their cables when installing plugs & wires.

After some googling I saw that one thing that might set the P1351 was the crank shaft position sensor, and as I had a new one, I replaced that too which I was gone do either way if the new plugs & wires didn’t help, and then cleared the code.

Next day I took the car for a long ride, after one hour the serve engine lamp came on, also noticed a slight stall at low rpm and high gear on my way home that I haven't noticed before.
Once I got home I pulled the codes and now had the P1351 back plus another code P0336 crank shaft position sensor a circuit range performance, after installing back the old CKP both codes were gone, didn’t even have to clear them (battery off during the change), so seems the new CKP is defect.
Haven’t driven anymore since this, so at the moment I don't know if P1351 will come back.

Does anyone recognize getting ignition codes after installing new plugs & wires that they never had before?

Like to add all harness connectors have looked clean, and I typically spray them with electrical cleaner while having them off. Places left to check however are Opti and ECM connecting points

I do have oil leaks at crankshaft and/or camshaft and the later I guess might be bad for the Opti which also is missing the vent hoses btw, and the big lid O-ring has slightly crawled out of place in the bottom which might indicate oil in there.

I guess it points towards the Opti and the plan has been for a long time now to replace it with a Petris unit (if they ship abroad) and to replace the seals on the timing cover while at it, and then to install a new Gates wp.

What I dread is if the new Opti don’t cure the surge either, there are so many threads on various LT1 forums of people that got disappointed on their new Opti sparks

Only other things I can think of ignition wise are Nock sensor, or a bad PCM or harness

 

The P1351 came back driving to work today, its very odd it suddenly sets this code after replacing plugs and wires as I drove around with the new coil and ICM for quite a while without getting it.

I fear that may have got wrong kind of spark plug wires, they show as correct for a 1996 Z28 on the Rockauto web page, but when I search on ebay for the same set it states there that they are only valid for 93-95 F-body LT1’s

And it really sucks if that’s what it is because they were a real PITA to install on the passengers side

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...t=7224&jsn=517

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13449524288...3ABFBMjq-u2qVm

 

The manufacturers web page claim the wires to be correct for a 1996 Camaro with 5.7 eng, and after some research I can't really find anywhere that 96-97 wires should be different except for the coil wire, and I actually got two of them in the wire kit, but the extra one had a different fit at the coil end, and the one I used was visually identical with the one being replaced, so I have hard time believing it was wrong.

It is odd though why the P1351 suddenly starts coming and going after the plugs and wires replacement as I never had it before and the coil and ICM are new.

 

check plug wire connections both ends and make sure they are all the way in and not damaged. last thing I have is the opti wire harness. it goes between the opti and the engine harness. I had one go bad and did cause rough running.

 

Thanks Craby,

All plug wire ends have been triple checked already on installation, but I took off the Opti harness yesterday evening and the Opti-end looked like it might have a slight corrosion in the four slots (eyes not what they used to be)

So soaked it with electronic cleaner spray and carefully scraped each slot with a thin steal wire, then soaked it again and let it be over night, we’ll see if it brings any improvement.

Gone take the screaming smog pump off this weekend to see if it possibly can be made quiet, but that’s another story

 

Took the car for the usual 20 min test drive this weekend, and then I let it idle 7-8 minutes on the driveway , and..... knock on wood, no tendency for any surge at all but...it has been gone before and come back, so I will not buy any champagne just yet, but if it stays gone I promise to summarize and close this thread.

At the moment I'm trying to figure out the reason for my sudden P1351, too high voltage in the white ICM cable, but that might be a subject for another thread unless showing to be something obvious.

 

Found the below information on Petris (who sells Opties) web page

Excessive Voltage
Typically caused by voltage spikes, often originating from open or high-ohm spark plug wires. If a unit comes back with severe distributor contact wear, it's usually due to this voltage stress.

So, I decided to measure the resistance on the short wire between Opti and coil, the new wire vs the old, and holy crap there was a huge difference although looking identical!

The new 4.6 k Ohm and old 1.16 k Ohm, so seems the opti-coil cable might be different on the 96-97 after all...

Gone put on the old and see if I get lucky for a change