Fast forward a week later to this morning. Before I head out, I decided to torque them up properly (13 lb-ft). Did just that, even had the torque wrench on a slightly lower setting. Hmm, doesn’t seem to be clicking off though. Oh well, will just tighten ‘em up as best as I can. Decided to put the spark plug cover back on after starting the engine. Got in the car, started the engine and….. pop! The HT lead from the far left came flying out. I immediately turned it off and thought, oh phuck! Removed the spark plug and it had sheared off leaving the tip and thread in the engine. I had that sinking nauseous feeling that this was gonna be expensive. Had visions of missing next week’s European Prelude Meet at Nurburgring and having to have the car towed away to a garage to have the cylinder head removed
Luckily, dad came to the rescue! While waiting for him to arrive, I removed the valve cover for easier access. He managed to remove it intact in less than 5 minutes with a long wide headed screw driver. I suppose if I didn’t put copper grease on the threads, it would have been a lot more difficult to remove. In retrospect, I didn’t need to remove the cylinder head cover but didn’t know at the time how he intended to remove the bit.
The torque wrench is made by Laser and I’m not gonna use the phucking thing ever again. Gonna get myself a Draper torque wrench to match the rest of my tools (I’m a Draper whore).
Fortunately, I still had my old spark plugs removed last Saturday so refitted one of them. So now I’ve got three sparks plugs that have had less 100 miles on them and one which has endured 59,780 miles. I’m a little worried that I might have stressed the others and they might be at breaking point so to set my mind at rest, I’ve ordered a new set of four which should arrive by the middle of next week. Again through eBay but this time cheaper at £28.50 for the four.
Needless to say, I’ll be more careful next time.
