well im bout to change the plugs and wires on my 4.3........ and it looks like its gonna be abit of a chore. i though the plugs were hard to get to on my 3400 in my alero befor i saw this vortec.

so does anyone have any tips or tricks befor i dive into this?

 

Would help to know the year of your truck?
For the most aprt its pretty striaght forward, steering shaft may have to be turned to get #3 out.

 

its a 96 4.3 4x4

just wondering if there are any like "special tips" people know the help speed things along.

 

I had to go through the inner fender, fender well, or whatever you want to call it to get to the spark plugs.

 

ya i was almost thinkin it might be easier to change them from under the truck

 

I use a 3 foot extention with a swivel socket thru the wheel well on some of the plugs. Sometimes I use a wrench on the end of a plug socket when I can't get straight on the plug because of the steering shaft.
I use a short piece of vacuum hose to start the new plugs in the threads. Just push the hose on the end of the spark plug, use the hose as an extention and pull it off when it's ready for tightening with the socket.

It's usually easier to get the plug wires off the plugs if you give them a little twist before pulling on them.

 

I just did my '96 Blazer... jack it up and remove the tire ,makes it a little easier with the extra room

#3 is a bit tricky,I used a wrench on the socket

 

I took out the air cleaner box when I changed mine. That freed up a lot of room on the driver side. Also, take one of your old wires and cut off the boot. Put your new plug into the boot and use it to start it into the hole. It will give you a few more inches of reach than trying to thread your new plugs by hand. Also, it's way better then trying to start them with a socket. Since it's soft rubber you'll be able to feel the new plug going in better greatly reducing any chances of crossthreading them. Make sure you put some anti seeze on the threads of your new plugs too. You can try to do them from the wheel wells, but I did mine all from the top. You might as well change your cap, rotor, and pcv valve as long as you're under the hood.

 

I have always used my spark plug socket with the rubber insert to install plugs on all of my vehicles. It wasn't until recently that I had to replace a very old extension that locked into any socket. I was able to find a craftsman locking extension set to replace it. Once you have the locking extensions, there are no worries about the spark plug socket getting stuck.

 

remove the wire from the plug, remove old plug, insert new plug, remove old wire no longer connected to a plug from distributor, replace with new wire. If you yank all the wires out at once you're sure to get them crossed sooner or later.

Try taking off the front wheel and getting at the plugs through the wheel well, in my opinion it's worth the hassle.