Hey, a friend of mine and I have been looking all around, and no one knows what we're talking about. My mom drives a 97 Mercury Sable. It has this engine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Du...ine#Duratec_30

It'* a Ford Duratec 3.0L V6, also known as the Mazda AJ. All the repair manuals from the auto parts places around here show the Sable as having a 3.8L pushrod engine, and that'* the one that was replaced after 96 by the one we have.

You can see how because of the intake manifold, we can't get to the rear plugs. I took off the manifold, and now that the spark plugs are replaced, we can't find the order by which the screws go back as well as the torque ratings for each one. We want to do this right, but we can't find anything on this. I'm going to continue looking, but I'm asking for your guys' help in case someone already knows or actually also owns this engine. Thanks!

This may be your answer. Craziest f'ing way to torque an intake manifold that I have ever seen.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...0071808AAhw2LC

If that'* for an OHV, that'* the pushrod engine not of the Duratec series. Duratec is the name given to any gasoline engine with dual overhead cams. Oh, Ford. I can't take it.

Sorry.... I wasn't reading very well last night....

No problem. I found that Autozone.com shows a 7 ft-lb torque spec, and I think this is right. The bolts came out all right. However, I want to make sure, and I still don't know what the tightening order is. I'll see if it'* as simple as a Google Images search.

Well, if I were in your shoes, and couldn't find the order, I would start at the center and work my way to the edges. That doesn't mean it'* right, but I'd loctite the bolts and take that chance.... That'* me though.

I've found several torque sets for the 3.0L OHV engine, but I think I'm getting closer.

if you don't have it by monday, i'l find it on aldata at work and let you know

Very cool. Thanks a lot. I'll keep looking, but what I have so far is the 7 ft-lb torque of each bolt. I'll see how the camshaft works for the 8-bolt setup and then convert that to 6 bolts if I find any correlation. Probably not.