PART ONE: SPARK PLUGS

We'll need to remove a few parts from the car in order to get access to the spark plugs. Now that that 10mm open-ended wrench and remove that battery. Be careful when loosening the positive (+) terminal from the battery. If your wrench gets grounded (touches anything metal), you will shock yourself and possibly blow a fuse. So be careful! Next, loosen the 10mm nuts that hold the battery in place. Once the tie down rods are loose, they can be removed from the car. Now, pull the battery and battery tray from the car and place it on the ground. Be careful not to scratch up your car while pulling it out of the engine bay.

Now take that 10mm socket wrench and remove the windshield washer bottle (two 10mm bolts). You'll also have to unclip one (or two if you have a wagon with a rear wiper) electrical connectors that power the washer fluid pumps. You'll also have to yank off the rubber lines from the pump nipples. It is likely that washer fluid will squirt out during this step. If it does, don't worry about it as washer fluid isn't corrosive, harmful to paint, or particularly smelly.

With the left (driver's) side of the engine bay now cleared up, we'll now focus our attention to the right side. With your screw driver, loosen the clamp that holds the soft intake tube to the plastic tube that sits under the intake manifold. Next, unlatch the two fasteners that keeps the top of the intake box attached to the bottom portion. Once unsecured, pull the top of the intake box off the car. intake tube will come with it. Now removed the intake filter which is now completely exposed. The With that all out of the way, unbolt the two 12mm bolts that secure the bottom of the intake box to the frame of the car. Once loose, remove the bottom of the box from the car. You will have to pry the box from the short tube that extends out of the fender.

Next, we need to remove each one (of the four) of the coils that is bolted on to the top of the valve covers. There are two coils on each side. To remove them, loosen the 12mm bolt that secures each of them to the valve cover. The bolt does not need to be completely removed from the coil to do this. Once loose enough, pull the coils from the valve cover and tuck them out of the way. You can leave the electical connectors clipped to the coils if you'd like. If not, remember which connector goes to which coil (the white one goes towards the front of the car). Not that there is a bracket that holds the o2 sensor wire to the #3 coil (passenger side rear) which can be removed when the bolt is loosened. With all the coils removed from the valve cover, you can now remove the spark plugs. Depending on what kind of socket wrench and extension sets you have, this can be super easy or slightly irritating. Before installing the new plugs (included with the Stage Zero kit), make sure to gap them to 0.028 inches. Too much bigger and you will get misfire. To much smaller and idle quality will suffer. Also, be careful not to over-torque the spark plugs when screwing them in. A good rule of thumb is finger tight plus one-half turn from the socket wrench. Too tight and you'll make life really difficult for yourself. Now, reverse the steps and re-install the coils (and o2 sensor bracket). Leave the battery, washer bottle, and intake assembly off the car for the time being.
PART ONE: SPARK PLUGS

We'll need to remove a few parts from the car in order to get access to the spark plugs. Now that that 10mm open-ended wrench and remove that battery. Be careful when loosening the positive (+) terminal from the battery. If your wrench gets grounded (touches anything metal), you will shock yourself and possibly blow a fuse. So be careful! Next, loosen the 10mm nuts that hold the battery in place. Once the tie down rods are loose, they can be removed from the car. Now, pull the battery and battery tray from the car and place it on the ground. Be careful not to scratch up your car while pulling it out of the engine bay.

Now take that 10mm socket wrench and remove the windshield washer bottle (two 10mm bolts). You'll also have to unclip one (or two if you have a wagon with a rear wiper) electrical connectors that power the washer fluid pumps. You'll also have to yank off the rubber lines from the pump nipples. It is likely that washer fluid will squirt out during this step. If it does, don't worry about it as washer fluid isn't corrosive, harmful to paint, or particularly smelly.

With the left (driver's) side of the engine bay now cleared up, we'll now focus our attention to the right side. With your screw driver, loosen the clamp that holds the soft intake tube to the plastic tube that sits under the intake manifold. Next, unlatch the two fasteners that keeps the top of the intake box attached to the bottom portion. Once unsecured, pull the top of the intake box off the car. intake tube will come with it. Now removed the intake filter which is now completely exposed. The With that all out of the way, unbolt the two 12mm bolts that secure the bottom of the intake box to the frame of the car. Once loose, remove the bottom of the box from the car. You will have to pry the box from the short tube that extends out of the fender.

Next, we need to remove each one (of the four) of the coils that is bolted on to the top of the valve covers. There are two coils on each side. To remove them, loosen the 12mm bolt that secures each of them to the valve cover. The bolt does not need to be completely removed from the coil to do this. Once loose enough, pull the coils from the valve cover and tuck them out of the way. You can leave the electical connectors clipped to the coils if you'd like. If not, remember which connector goes to which coil (the white one goes towards the front of the car). Not that there is a bracket that holds the o2 sensor wire to the #3 coil (passenger side rear) which can be removed when the bolt is loosened. With all the coils removed from the valve cover, you can now remove the spark plugs. Depending on what kind of socket wrench and extension sets you have, this can be super easy or slightly irritating. Before installing the new plugs (included with the Stage Zero kit), make sure to gap them to 0.028 inches. Too much bigger and you will get misfire. To much smaller and idle quality will suffer. Also, be careful not to over-torque the spark plugs when screwing them in. A good rule of thumb is finger tight plus one-half turn from the socket wrench. Too tight and you'll make life really difficult for yourself. Now, reverse the steps and re-install the coils (and o2 sensor bracket). Leave the battery, washer bottle, and intake assembly off the car for the time being.