I did it last night after work. Let the truck cool down so the engine was just a bit warm to the touch (per my engine builders direction). I started with the drivers side, plugs 6-10. All came out very easy and none were loose. Coil boots looked like new. Took me about 1/2 hour to do these. On to the dreaded 1-5 bank. I started with 4 & 5 first, as I wanted to get them out of the way. Acctually not so bad, as I removed or disconnected all of the vacuum lines, and even thought about removing the throttle cables (but I didn't). I only had to lay on top of the motor to do #'s 4 & 5, the rest were easy from the side leaning over the fender. Again, all the plugs on the passnenger side bank came out easy and none were loose. All my coil boots were like new. The old plugs' gap was just about perfect at ~.055", and the threads were fine. These were the full thread plugs that came out. Overall, not really too difficult. Took me about 2 hours and a couple of beers. Like others have said, I'll swap plugs in these motors at $200 a job all day long. Couple of notes:

- Tools needed:

- The job is not that difficult, it is only plugs 4 & 5 that are the PIA.
- Have the right tools.
- I ended up installing and removing each plug twice, as I found that the anti-sieze was picking up particles of dirt from the threads in the head. I removed and re-installed the plug until the anti-sieze was clean and the plug went in nice and smooth.
- Glad I didn't buy the boots, all of mine were fine.
-I drove the truck to work this morning, and I'm not sure I can tell the difference.

Lastly, I read on another post someone asking about re-checking torque after a few miles. I may do this. Should't take but an hour, and it'll give me some piece of mind.

 

Did mine over the weekend with an almost identical experience and findings to what you described except that I had several plugs with gaps around .065. This was the first plug change for the truck (2001, 47k) and I was relieved to find that none were loose or seemingly over-torqued. Was a little disappointed to find that the heads had only 3 or 4 threads in the plug holes as the heads are clearly marked with the "PI" and many folks here believe that the PI heads do not have this feature. I do believe that properly installed in an undamaged head the plugs will stay put forever, however, it still makes me ponder what they were thinking. In machining the head, all they had to do was set the counterbore a little less deep and give the tap a couple extra turns. I can't see where it saved them time or material or how it could be to any advantage. I would like to hear what you find when you re-torque them.

 

.065" is quite a bit worn, and with less miles than mine was. I wonder why this was, must be driving conditions.
I wish I looked at the number if threads in the head, maybe when I re-torque I will pull the #6 plug and take a look.

 

my V10 plugs were changed today at 80K and I did notice a little smoother idle.

 

Well, after a week and about 250 miles I decided to pop the COP's off and check my torque on the plugs. Every one was fine, with the exception of one that I thought the torque wrench moved a bit before the "click". Took me about an hour, with only one problem with one of the bolts holding the COP in place. Came out just fine, but after I was done checking the plug it didn't want to thread back in nice. I ended up having to run a tap through the hole to clean the threads up. It is a 5m x .8, that luckily I had in my metric tap set. Also lucky that it was one of the ones up front too. Not really a big issue, but still a PITA.

 

Motorcraft has introduced Iridium plugs. What plugs did you fellas use?

 

Used the regular platinum plugs.

 

Autolite double platinums (APP103 I believe). I noticed in your signature the Gear Vendors overdrive unit. Would like to hear your experience with it.

 

The GV is very useful, especially now I have the 4.30 gears. Towing with it was a real treat, too. I posted a full report on the 14th of july but got only a few responses. Guess no one cared, eventhough some asked me to report after I had told about my gear change.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=507955

Feel free to ask any questions after you read the report. I didn't report everywhere I was able to use The Gear Vendor and save on rpm's. Nearly all the way thru to Utah I was able to pull in 3rd gear over with a gut load of power to spare.