A friend of mine's car was running really rough. Got the codes checked at the dealer and they said the plugs and wires and O2 sensors needed changing. I was leery of the O2 sensors being bad. I think people change these expensive parts out way too much.

Anyway we get down to changing the plugs and wires. What a PITA. I'm new to Corvettes and was shocked to discover the "opti-spark" and where it was located. I think they started with it and built the car around it. My friend did a lot of reading on this forum and learned that it was easier to change the wires if the car is raised. So, we put the front end on jacks and then we got started with the easy part; changing out the plugs. We gapped them to .050 and got busy. #8 was the most difficult, which wasn't a big surprise, and moving the ASR out of the way made getting the plugs on the driver’s side easy.

Now for the hard part; changing the wires. My friend got under the car and I worked on top and we changed out the wires one-by-one. The hardest part was once again #8. It was getting dark so we called it quits for the night. The next day we tackled the driver’s side. What a B***H! This time I got under the car popped off all the wires from the Opti-spark and one by one pulled them out. Then came time thread the new ones back through. When we pulled out the old ones we tied string to them to pull the new ones through. A good idea that proved to not work. The new plug wires boots were bigger than the old ones and wouldn't just slip through. After a lot of cursing we decided to slip off the serpentine belt so we could thread the wires through. This helped but there was also a spring hose clamp, the kind that you need a pair of pliers to open so you can slide it down the hose. On of the tabs for the clamp was in the way and it took quite a while to get it to twist out of the way. Once all that was done the wires went right in.

We put the rest of the car back together and then the moment of truth. Notice I haven't mentioned the O2 Sensors. The car starts right up and runs smoothly with no SEL. I guess those sensors aren't bad after all, but my friend is going to keep them anyway. I'm sure they will go bad one day. After helping my friend with this normally simple task I now know I won't get a C4 and would like to punch the guy who designed this part of the car. The C6 however is looking really good.

 

Last time I changed my wires was when I had the motor out of the car.
That is one S###Y job.

 

Yeah. Now I know why the dealer wanted to charge close to $1000 parts and labor. I was think the easiest way to work on that engine is to just pull it out.

 

The second time you do the wires it takes about an hour or two. But the dealer still wants large cash.

Once again, the forum pays off. The two real keys to the wires are sliding the power steering pum forward about 1/2 inch to feed the wires behind it and removing the tensioner to gain access to the opti. Lossen three or four bolts for the pump and remove one bolt for the tensioner pully and one bolt for the tensioner.

Even with these hints you need beer and band-aids. But you can a lot of beer with the money you save.