I found another way to fix the optis that happen to go south due to possible water leakage.

1) Buy from Sam Smith- he will warranty it! Though I bought second one to have on hand , he put a label in the box for the return of the old one.

(I'm getting good at this-one hour not including the time to put car in the air and fussing at people putting **** back where is it is supposed to be). Had I not had to take off the intercooler piping and junk, even better. BTW, air tools rock.

2) Finally took off the bad on on mine that I put on in Feb. Had usua signs of buildup on the cap and rotor. Disk was clean but had crap in the terminal area.

This leads me to believe it is time to fashion a 'condom' of sorts to protect the opti at harness connector site. With even a little bit of water/antifreeze in the area, there is enough vacuum from the breather system to suck the moisture past the weather pack. I will try to first us heat shrink tubing but leave a skirt at the bottom to help divert any water away. A different (and cheaper) connector will probably help out more, it is pisspoor engineering to put such a critical sensor and connector where gravity will put water right into the guts. Just ask a civil engineer about how water flows down hill (j/k)

Second, I will hook up the vacuum harness back like it was when stock regardless of what ATI tells you too. I think this is a big reason for failure. You need a pressure gradient, and you cannot vent to atmophere...

Any other ideas

-CAL

 

There is a solution being done...It is being tested right now was installed 1 1/2 months ago on a LT1 Camaro.When it's all tested and done I will tell you all who too contact.NO MORE OPTI....I have a TEC II mind you , But My shop is working on the Optiless Solution.Also FYI TEC 3 NO GOOD for 8, ok for 4 and 6 .But 8 has REAL PROBLEMS .Should be soon.I will try too get a price for you all and what it entails if they will let me.

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lil Japanese car BIG American motor
www.speakeasy.net/~lt1240z

 

Luna if you put those vacuum lines back make sure the one way valves are hooked up correctly and make sure they can handle the boost. If not you'll be boosting hot air back into the opti, been there done that and it will fry up the opti.

LT1240Z- Have you tried the new tec 3 out yet? I almost got one of those. I just sold my tec 2 for a killer price ($750) already setup to work for the LT1 including plug wires and such.

 

What was your final remedy?

 

When the " Engineers @ Electromotive Say stay away "Then what can you say: Tec 3 bad news for 8cyl .4 or 6 ok.

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lil Japanese car BIG American motor
www.speakeasy.net/~lt1240z

 

Late to the party, I know. I don't get 'over here' very often.

I am making the LTCC optispark eliminator that Arnie has. It is a mature product to run the LS1 coils from the opti signals.

The conversion is pricy when buying new coils, I have heard of some surplus coils "out there somewhere" though.

The unit adds a couple of functions that you would have to buy separately. so there is extra value in the unit.

1- it has a 2-step rev limiter
2- it has an adjustable retard for n20, turbo, or SC.

Just wanted to drop my .02 in the conversation. I have been running this system on my 1996 turboed impala for about 1.5 years, no problems. I never even capped the plug-wire towers ont he opti cap. My car is NOT a fair-weather only driver, so I believe that this system has stretched the useful life of my opti even though I haven't done anything to the vents.

I hope this adds some data to the conversation. Any questions, I'll try to check into this thread every couple days.

TurboBob

 

Getting the high voltage out of there seems to make a difference. I am still concerned about the rust that forms in the back around the bearing retainer. But, maybe the ozone from the HV discharge is what promotes the corrosion. I have 2 years on mine without the HV section, only about 5,000 miles total, but there has been some wet weather driving. George Baxter had about 4 years of operation on his, but has since sold the engine... I would suspect he put as much as 15K miles on it, and of course some heavy track use, and the system never showed any kind of problems. I'm not even sure what he did with the vent system, considering he was running close to 20# boost. I just have mine hooked up like OEM.

Getting a "black box" that is cheaper than a MoTeC or a FAST will make is a lot more attractive for the average user.

Fred

 

Any ideas on how to keep the rust from forming? I'm installing an Opti soon and was wondering if there's stuff I can do to try and increase its longevity.

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Hear LT1 cam WAVs, DIY head porting: members.***.net/gmarengo

'95, !CAGS, CAI, ForceII, Hooker Shorties, 14.2@103

 

The cap has been machined and should be shipped to me this week. I have two pictures of it, although they're not the best quality. When it gets here, I'll take more pictures of it. Let me know what you think.

Picture 1
Picture 2

 

Looks great, Curt. Let me know when I can get my hands on one of these as I am putting an engine together for the wife's Vert and would like to do this right from the get go.

Ryan

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1994 Z28 A4, Vortech, Flowmaster, TPIS 52 mm TB, Hooker LT's, LS1 brakes, AAM 3.42 rear, more.

 

I don't mean to be an **** but how exactly would a machined cap be useful?

Seems to increase the chance of a spark going to ground ranter than to the plug.

 

I guess we (you & I) are not on the same page. What spark? If you are talking secondary high voltage, there isn't any!

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I'll be back

 

Arnie is correct. This piece was being machined to go with the multi coil packs. To make a better ignition system, you need to get the high voltage out of the opti anyway. Notice there are no spark plug wire towers on the machined piece...

Ryan

 

The only places i've seen the coils mounted is on top of the valve covers...

Is there another good place to mount them? I would prefer somewhere elses...

 

Look on Fred's website -- his are mounted under the car.

Fred's setup