Help removing R34 GTT coilpack cover

[DraftySquash]

For the love of everything that is holy, how do you guys manage to get this thing off?????!!!!

I wanted to change my spark plugs today. Got everything, watched all the tutorials I could find, and read all the forums in here on steps. And then I got blocked on this coilpack cover!! Talk about feeling defeated 😕

Most guides just say it should come off after a bit of jiggling, but nothing I did worked and I didn't find any video tutorials where the person actually had to deal with the cover - it wasn't even there in most cases.

I took off everything above it. The wires towards the firewall had brackets connected to them so I unscrewed it from the cover so I could move them around. 

 

I took off the hose circled below and still nothing.

 

I thought maybe I could get more leverage by loosening the bracket that holds the engine cover, but that didn't make a difference either. I was sliding the cover back towards the firewall to lift it up, then pulling the firewall side towards the passenger side to try get it off, but it kept hitting the piece highlighted in blue.

I don't think this car has ever had any OEM parts changed (the black rubber connectors really need to be changed, they are rock hard), so even the wires near the firewall are iffy and I'm worried about breaking them - I've already got one OEM clamp with a wonky screw that doesn't do anything! 

Would anyone have a link to any tutorial that shows how to take this cover off? I just put everything back to how it was but I'd like to get the spark plugs changed for peace of mind. Most videos I found are for removing the cover in an RB26. The strut bar is the only thing I did not take off but the cover is not even reaching that to be the cause for all this. Same story with the rubber piece for the throttle body - did no difference.

 

I did have a peek inside the cover and saw that the coilpacks look nice and clean, and even got a cable tie around them and the plug (except for one piece of corrugated wire protection tube that seems to have been living there for while 😡). But I really want to see the state of the spark plugs and get the damn things changed! 

Appreciate any help you can give me. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

[GTSBoy]

I think the fitting into the exhaust cam cover that takes the 2 breather hoses just pushes into the cam cover. Just....rotate it or pull it out?

[Kinkstaah]

It is actually a bit dicky to slide out. I'm assuming you removed all the bolts on it :p

It does require a certain angle to go in/come out. When you line it up right you will see it will just slide out. You may need to take off the coupler for the throttle body to get the clearance. You may need to remove the engine cover's bracket as well.

There's a fair bit of angles and a bit of twisting to get it to slide out which I assume is the issue here.

[DraftySquash]

On 15/08/2024 at 8:00 AM, GTSBoy said:

I think the fitting into the exhaust cam cover that takes the 2 breather hoses just pushes into the cam cover. Just....rotate it or pull it out?

Thanks @GTSBoy - I will see if I can rotate it. The problem is that the cover hits the circular pillar that holds the 2 valves - so unless I pull the piece out, it might still hit it.

 

@Kinkstaah Yes I did take all the bolts off 🤣
When I first saw this cover, I thought to myself "Oh I have not seen this in any videos, but how smart!! It keeps any junk from going into the coilpacks"
Pretty soon, I reverted my thought 😅

Worst case scenario, I'll take it down to a mechanic to have the spark plugs changed for me. But I will ask them to keep the old spark plugs around so I can ake some pics 

[Kinkstaah]

It absolutely, 100% can come out. Every time I took it out and put it back in in the past I had to re-familiarize myself with how it came out.

When it's the right angle, it actually comes out very easily.

[Murray_Calavera]

27 minutes ago, DraftySquash said:

so unless I pull the piece out

It takes about 5 seconds to twist and remove that breather.

[DraftySquash]

On 15/08/2024 at 10:56 AM, Murray_Calavera said:

It takes about 5 seconds to twist and remove that breather.

Thanks for that! That is good to hear. I didn't want to try pull something out that should not be pulled out from the block 🤣

[GTSBoy]

I already told you it was a push in.

[DraftySquash]

On 15/08/2024 at 4:33 PM, GTSBoy said:

I already told you it was a push in.

ohhh duuh! My bad @GTSBoy I read the part about turning it and completely blanked out on the "Pull it out" part 🙄

[GTSBoy]

:D