Still working on the car... nice weekend delayed troubleshooting though I received parts to install now. It's running "good enough" to get to work, if you know how that goes, but hesitating enough to remind me that I need to troubleshoot.

A side note, bought a Chilton and Haynes manual for it, went on Amazon, $30ish dollars. Abe's used books, bought one for $3.00, the other for $4.00.

Anyway, life and troubleshooting continue...

 

Still working on the car... I've been at work a lot even with current events, I enjoy being mission essential, actually.

Breakthrough... ordered plus and the temp sensor, and pigtail from Rock Auto (great prices on spark plugs). Installed 3 plugs yesterday, drove the beast today.

It runs great. The old plugs were "worn" to .045, should be .040...

The number 3 is "stuck", or at least tight to the point where it did not feel "right" to force it out. I put some PB Blaster in the plug hole yesterday...

Any pointers to not turn the threads out of the head?

I love this car when it runs like this!

Doc

 

Did you get the right plugs? Title of your post says sl2 which is Dohc.

You indicated yours was a sohc implying an sl1 or SL

Great news.

It's an aluminum head meaning you should change plugs on a cool engine. Sometimes heating it up a bit (running the engine) will help weaken the gunk gluing together, as aluminum and steel expand at different rates.

Soak up the old blaster, try to loosen. If not, spray some more blaster. Remember that is a tight fit w the threads, so not alot of blaster can really get in there. Take your time and try over and over. Chances are you are breaking a little free each time.

I think you're more likely to distort the threads than Rip them out

 

Rather than trying to just back the plug out, try tightening it just a tad, then try backing it out. Sometimes a little extra in will free it from the crud that's holding it. Just be careful not to try to brute force it, Just a small, maybe 1/8th of a turn should do it.

 

What HE said