Thats a heat shield for the plug, no need to remove need a deep spark plug socket, and an extension. I did my plugs in like 20 minutes... its once of the easiest vehicles ive owned to do plugs on

 

the easiest car for me to change plugs on was my friends 68 mustang. this sucks, i mean its not that hard to get it out. its just a pain to get the plugs thread lined up so you can start to tighten the plug. or maybe its just me[8D]

 

the easiest vehicle i've done spark plugs on was a dohc 4 cylinder honda motorright on top