I recently put my Cherokee back on the road, and with the freshened up motor, was a set of hedman headers with remflex gaskets. Long story short, I went to pull a plug the other day just because it felt like it was running a little rough, and realized that the craftsman sockets I used to use on it were being blocked out by the header flanges. By the way, plugs are Autolite Copper 65's.
So Im thinking theres three things I can do whenever I need to access the spark plugs.
1. Unbolt the headers every time. Which seems like excessive work, and I cant imagine being good for the gaskets.
2. Machine down the flanges so they stop interfering. The downside to this being less metal= more prone to warping, and its not like theyre the stoutest to begin with.
3. Find a tight-clearance socket. Which compared to the rest of the options, feels like a no brainer. I am just not yet aware of anyone making one.
Anyone else run into this?