Robby1870 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 It was over 50 degrees for the first time in like two months so I did my plugs and wires and installed new 6.5" door speakers and rear 6x9s. The previous owners apparantly had never changed the rear plugs. They were rusted and the gap was well over 60 thousandths with one almost at 70! Plug wires were corroded horribly. The fronts though, however, were almost perfect. Very odd. That does explain the miss I was having at idle and during hard acceleration. Im not sure how the car was doing as good as it was, MPG wise, but it was. #5 plug was hard to get out (as usual) and when I got it out, one thread on the plug was a little rough and showed signs of *maybe* a stripped head. Luckily, the new plug went it just fine. Car runs great now. Either the previous owners never changed the rear plugs, or something else. Speakers sound great, even for being low-end pioneers. Took my RKE box out and Im going to try to resolder it like Shawn tells how to do on the site. Just thought I'd let share this info, Im kinda bored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 I gotta do my plugs and wires soon. I also have to change my oil, haven't done that since I've gotten the car. :oops: Great, Robby. Glad to hear there were no problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Yea, we had one of those nice weekends too... now there's snow on the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Sounds like a good weekend. I'm doing my plugs and wires soon. Looks like a bitch to get to the rears though. W-bodies have tiny engine compartments! Hopefully I can get back there without taking anything off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Sounds like a good weekend. I'm doing my plugs and wires soon. Looks like a bitch to get to the rears though. W-bodies have tiny engine compartments! Hopefully I can get back there without taking anything off. Take off the alternator and it's MUU-U-UCH easier, trust me. TRUST me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryk2003 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 plugs on the 3100 are pretty easy..prolly one of the simplest car's i've ever tuned up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay3800 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Rear plugs on the 3.1 are a different story. The manifold/plenum hangs off the back of the motor more than on the 3100. Makes it tougher to get back there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Some say pull the motor forward, others say remove the alt.. I got aquainted to removing the alt.. 3 bolts, and plenty of room to get a socket wrench back there. It really opens things up getting the alt out of the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joberlee Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Rolling the engine forward is easy. Definently easier than taking off the alternator. Also the lower bolt on the alternator is much easier to get at with the engine rolled forward, a socket and a big extension (across the entire back of the engine). It's also the only halfway easy way to get at the Oxygen sensor, on non turbo cars anyway. If you don't know how to move the engine forward, let me know and i'll post the process. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted February 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I rocked the motor forward and took the alternator off. Plenty of room to get at them. Even got them routed close to where the factory wants it, LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannymik Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Hey I washed my car...checked oil and tranny fluid levels...checked out the air filter which needs some attention and vacuumed my salt filled floor mats. Oh yeah I applied a little leather conditioner on the seats! Its great having 45-50* weather in the early part of February! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z34_nut Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 yeah its raining here in lovely lima ohio. either way, we have a big garage with lifts, and i just did a ton of electrical test on my car, no codes, no misses, good TPS, o2, map, injectors. and more, but i'm happy because i got to drive 1,000 miles on weds-thurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 On Gen II 3.1 cars, I just unbolt the motor mounts and rock the engine foward until the dipstick is almost touching the radiator. It works extremely well and gives you tons of room in the back. Takes me 10-15 minutes to change all 6 plugs this way. On my STE its even easier because I don't have to rock the engine forward at all. With the 3100 plenum there is gobs of room to get my hands back there to pull the plugs out, and since I still have my original coil setup below the front manifold, I don't have to worry about that coil being in the way like I would if I had a 3100. Sounds like you helped that GP run a lot better now. I imagine you'll see better mileage, and I'm sure you're gonna enjoy the sound of the new speakers. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 sounds good we had a 50 degree weekend here too. Except the roads were wet from everything melting so a clean car was minimal. what plugs/wires did you put on??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 sounds good Robmaman. Keep it gangsta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl3196 Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 sounds good Robmaman. Keep it gangsta. Werd dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted February 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 sounds good we had a 50 degree weekend here too. Except the roads were wet from everything melting so a clean car was minimal. what plugs/wires did you put on??? Delco Plugs and Xact (cheap Advance brand) wires. No way I was throwing $45 for Delco plug wires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intlcutlass Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I did my plugs a couple weeks ago.... Here is a tip.... Take off the drivers side dog bone, and put in there a 3" turnbuckle. This should be close to all the way out (you will know what I mean when you see it). Then take off the pass dog bone and start tightening the turnbuckle. It will tilt the engine for you and gain a good amount of room to change those plugs. Use the turnbuckle this way you don't have to worry about pushing or pulling the engine to get it to line up with the dog bones again, and you don't need a helper to push the car, you don't need a hill to park on... the turnbuckle is your friend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joberlee Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I did my plugs a couple weeks ago.... Here is a tip.... Take off the drivers side dog bone, and put in there a 3" turnbuckle. This should be close to all the way out (you will know what I mean when you see it). Then take off the pass dog bone and start tightening the turnbuckle. It will tilt the engine for you and gain a good amount of room to change those plugs. Use the turnbuckle this way you don't have to worry about pushing or pulling the engine to get it to line up with the dog bones again, and you don't need a helper to push the car, you don't need a hill to park on... the turnbuckle is your friend... Don't need the turnbuckle... Take out the passenger side dogbone, put the bolt back in on the engine side. Loosen the driver side dogbone on both ends, remove the nut on the engine side. Put a pry bar between the bolt on the passenger side and the engine and pull forward slightly. Take out the engine side bolt from the drivers side bone. Flip up the bone, slide the bolt 1/4 of the way back into the bracket. lay the bone on top of it. Pull the engine forward with the pry bar. Slide the bolt through the slave hole on the bottom of the bone and through the other side of the bracket. No extra parts needed, takes less than a minute once the bolts are loose. That's how I've always done it, and how the factory recommends it. That's why the factory dogbones only had that extra hole on the bottom for the drivers side. Oh, and the slave hole always should be down and toward the engine. Seen them upside-down and backwards before Not trying to rip on other peoples methods, but the turnbuckle would be a really easy way to move it too far forward and tear the lower engine and transmission mounts away from the cradle. And we all know how fun those are to change Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intlcutlass Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I did my plugs a couple weeks ago.... Here is a tip.... Take off the drivers side dog bone, and put in there a 3" turnbuckle. This should be close to all the way out (you will know what I mean when you see it). Then take off the pass dog bone and start tightening the turnbuckle. It will tilt the engine for you and gain a good amount of room to change those plugs. Use the turnbuckle this way you don't have to worry about pushing or pulling the engine to get it to line up with the dog bones again, and you don't need a helper to push the car, you don't need a hill to park on... the turnbuckle is your friend... Don't need the turnbuckle... Take out the passenger side dogbone, put the bolt back in on the engine side. Loosen the driver side dogbone on both ends, remove the nut on the engine side. Put a pry bar between the bolt on the passenger side and the engine and pull forward slightly. Take out the engine side bolt from the drivers side bone. Flip up the bone, slide the bolt 1/4 of the way back into the bracket. lay the bone on top of it. Pull the engine forward with the pry bar. Slide the bolt through the slave hole on the bottom of the bone and through the other side of the bracket. No extra parts needed, takes less than a minute once the bolts are loose. That's how I've always done it, and how the factory recommends it. That's why the factory dogbones only had that extra hole on the bottom for the drivers side. Oh, and the slave hole always should be down and toward the engine. Seen them upside-down and backwards before Not trying to rip on other peoples methods, but the turnbuckle would be a really easy way to move it too far forward and tear the lower engine and transmission mounts away from the cradle. And we all know how fun those are to change Joe Everyone has their meathods.....I did the prybar thing for years..... I like the turnbuckle because I need no prybar... no effort at all really, and it's less than 2 min to rotate. Take 1 dogbone out, put the tunbuckle in , take the other mount out and tighten..... If you use a 3" turnbuckle there is no danger of pulling it too far forward, because the screws in the turnbuckle will hit eachother before you overdue the rotation of the engine.... Also.... no need to touch the alternator which had been mentioned several times in this thread prior. Like I said... we all have different meathods...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joberlee Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 I agree on the alternator, and you definently have to tilt the engine forward to do the back plugs or O2 sensor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Remember sometimes they get shitty dogbones that the slave hole is way too small to put the actual dogbone bolt through. You may have to have a smaller bolt handy. Chris (white93z34) and I ran into that on the LE we were working on when I went up to PA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joberlee Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 cheap aftermarket parts...what can you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.