i finally completed the repair. using hand tools in the garage by myself, it was not fun. it probably took 10-12 hrs over 2 days. the most tedious part was counterboring and reaming the hole. i had to pull the fuel rail on the pass side to get a good angle to work.
i coated the flutes with axle grease, and then i would count 20-30 quarter turns of the cutter and then remove and clean. i did that about 20-25 times on the counterbore alone. arm burner for sure.
i had a short run of 3/8 fuel hose taped to my shop vac to try and get any loose shavings. if you used enough grease, there really wasn;t too many strays (that i saw).
i will say the timesert kit is expensive but worth every penny. the tools worked perfectly and i was glad i got it when i saw the insert sitting nice and tight in the plug hole when i was done.
of course it started raining just as i fired it up and cleared the old misfires codes. it was great to hear it run and idle again in the garage. maybe tomorrow the weather will cooperate.
since i had all the other plugs out anyway, i was sure to clean the threads and retorque them hand tight and then just a touch with the wrench to snug them down.
i hope no one else has to do this, but now i've got some experience to help the next poor sob.
happy fourth folks!!!
