I ordered up some Taylor Spiro spark plug wires and they look sweet. I was able to swap out the passenger side, no prob. I started to take a look at the difficulty of the driver side and it looks near impossible! I can't even see the distributor. In fact, the best I can do is reach around the serpentine belt and just barely touch the plugs. Forget about putting them back on let alone getting them off. There is a small gap where I can shimmy the wires into place right past the idler, which is on the serpentine belt. Looking over the entire deal, I can't get the wires unplugged off the distributor. I have a lift but it's currently inoperable because the electricity has been cut to it. Is the only way to get the wires off without taking apart the whole engine from underneath? I need a plan of attack here and need some help!

BTW, the set came with two additional wires that are really short but I can't see where they go. Anyone know what they're used for or where they go? Again, this is gonna be tough unless I can jack up the car on a lift.

 

Lord Odin-

Easiest way to get to the driver side plugs-

1) take of the serp belt.. gives you a little more breating room.
2) take off the wheel well on the driver side.. come in at it from the side..
3) You might have some luck coming in at it from the bottom.

Its still a royal PITA.. unless you do it like I will be- taking off the heads, waterpump, radiator, timing chain, and opti, so that I can install new heads and cam.. once the opti is out, it will be easy to change em!! ;)

 

I tried taking off the serpentine belt but the tensioner pushed in the way more. If I can get the plugs exchanged off the distributor, I'll have to take it off anyway to get it past the idler.

The driver side wheel well did help some but I was hoping for a little more. ;)

 

Take off the tensioner...it's only one bolt
:cheers:

 

If you pull out the water pump it will be no problem.

 

One short wire should go to the coil

 

Below are the instructions posted from December last year. You may want to search the achieves for other discussions.
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Passangers side: Easy. Only have to remove the wheel well shield panel above the A-arm.

Driver's side - I did this twice - first time from the bottom and second time from the top. I have to agree its is much easier to do from the top after unbolting a few things.

1. Remove driver's side front wheel
2. Remove spash panel over the A-arm (6 bolts- no big deal)
4. Remove serpentine belt (use breaker bar to get enough leverage on tensioner wheel)
5. Remove belt tensioner assembly (one bolt-no big deal)
6. Unbolt power steering pump and pull towards radiator (3 bolts--no big deal)

After you get all this stuff out of the way, you should be able to see all wires going to the optispark. With the a-arm splash panel removed, no need to unbolt the A/C compressor and you can get at all the wires without moving the cruise control box. You have to unbolt the power steering pump to get the wire boots through a narrow slot behind it.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it takes less time and effort to do it this way than going underneith. Believe me, I tried that way first.

If you go from the bottom, its is difficult to make sure the wires are snapped into place on the optispark. I have small hands and it was still difficult and my hands hurt for a week afterward.

 

I just replaced wires & plugs on 92 LT1 6sp. On the drivers side I dis-mounted the ASR and layed it to the side. Definitely remove the center portion of the wheel well as this will give you good access to that nifty wire clip beneath the alternator. I was able to attach the wires to the opti from beneath. There is enough access just in front of the oil pan. DO ONE WIRE AT A TIME as this will aid in attaching the wires(helping you feel your way). I did not have to remove any belts whatsoever. GOOD LUCK. Took me about 10 hours to complete the job. I believe I could do it now in about 4 hrs. Also I had 2 short wires left one is for the coil from what I understand is not needed. The other looks like an extra plug wire.




[Modified by RED1992, 8:25 PM 8/21/2002]