looked at the pic in the manual and it was difficult to find, can anyone give me a descriptive clue... I have never changed my own oil before and i am filling with RP. Man i am bad at this.

You can't miss it, just crawl under the front and look up, it's right there on the bottom of the oil pan

i can't see it under the skid plate, is it on either side of it?

You don't need to remove the skid plate to get to the drain plug, you will however need to remove the sp to get to the filter.
It's toward the passenger side more.

It's more towards the rear of the engine/pass. side. The oil pan is small, so it's not the most obvious thing, but it's there...

Glad to see someone learning, I can respect that a lot!
:lesen-big:
Excellent Pic provided BBF.

My dad and sister had 77 Nova's, I got in an arguement with Dad about where the drain plug was. It wasn't where he said! Turns out they were on opposite ends of the drain pan! No good reason for the change. Same 6 Cyl/Automatic. Bought about 2 months apart. Some of the bolts on the 2 cars, were changing from SAE to Metric too!

Months later, the Water pump wouldn't come off my sister's Nova like my Dad's did, without removing the Radiator. At least he had the HD Radiator, to explain the differance in fit, that time.

Hey guys, thanks for the help. Once i realized it wasn't behding the skid plate, i found it. Appreciate the help. I was expecting something more elaborate than a bolt with a rubber washer...

Hey guys, thanks for the help. Once i realized it wasn't behding the skid plate, i found it. Appreciate the help. I was expecting something more elaborate than a bolt with a rubber washer...
I hope its not a rubber washer. It is supposed to be a copper gasket.

I know this tread was in Jan. I hear alot of people taking thier skid plate off to change thier filter. You don't have to take it off! Reach your arm through the opening on the drivers side above the skid plate and you can reach it. I have done it many times.

For my 06 and many others you HAVE to remove . MAby 4x4 or OR pagage has the drain and/or hatch, but if we didnt remove the skid plate all the oil in the filter would be on top of the skid plate. FYI

I guess it would be posssible but i dont want a huge mess. I like to keep my engine compartment clean enough to eat off of :)

Yeah, I don't see any real way to do it without removing the skid plate and NOT creating a mess!