Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Putting plugs in the front bank

Here's the part of the job that's really no fun -- getting access to the front bank to change the plugs. Don't let the photo fool you, there's not nearly as much room as it looks. Getting to the front plugs is by feel only. You can't see a darned thing and you can only get one hand in there at a time. The only way you can even reach up there is by pulling the air cleaner. As you can see, I haven't put the new spark plug wires on the front yet.

I think the this job would be a little easier if I had the original spark plug tool that came in the early 308 tool kit. I've been trying to find one for a while and I'm unwilling to pay the outrageous money that people are asking for OEM tools. Oh well. I made do with a spark plug socket, universal joint and short extension. I should also point out that I must have gotten lucky in finding a spark plug socket that works. It seems that a lot of sockets that are the right size for the plug are too large a diameter to fit into the 308 spark plug well. The socket I have just barely fits down the hole.



Here are the front plugs. They look very much like the ones in the rear, although there aren't any deposits. One is definitely more oil soaked than the rest.



After taking much more time than it should really take to change 4 spark plugs, that deed is done. I now have a brand new set of NGK Iridium plugs. Hopefully, what I've read is true and they will be more resistant to fouling.



Here's a shot of the trick I do whenever I need to remove the air cleaner. Rather than remove the engine cover, I remove two of the three bolts from the passenger side engine cover hinge. This allows me to pivot the cover up which yields just enough extra room to get the air cleaner off. The remaining bolt holds the cover in place. When I'm done, I move the hinge back and tighten up everything.

Look at that red overspray on the inside of the engine cover! Yuk! I hate people who do a crappy job. Painting is a tough job. Tougher yet to good a really good job. You can always tell a bad paint job by the amount of overspray. It just points to bad preparation and a rush (read cheap) job.

It's been two days since I put the cam cover back on and the directions on the Hondabond sealant say three days until final cure. Still, I went ahead and started to engine to make sure I had hooked up everything correctly. Sure enough, it fired right up and I let it idle for a few minutes before shutting down. Tomorrow night, I will take the car for a drive (weather permitting of course) to make sure the cam cover is leak-free. That will leave Friday for final cleaning and detailing.

Ferrari Day 2012 on Saturday!