My Opti has gone out at 89K I am looking to replace it, the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. As well as a few other things that should be changed with a tune up. My question is I foung an Opti on ebay for less tha 100 dollars and was wandering if anyone has purchased and installed it on there LT1. Also would like to know the reliability of the part? Here is the link to the part.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3AIT&viewitem=

Any help would be apperciated.
Greg

 

nope not that piece of junk!! only go with a OEM opti, look on ebay for thepartsladi i think thats how its spelled but if not look and you will find it. if you go with plugs go with acdelco platinums or something that has had good rap with people i personally use acdelco platinums and have msd 8.5mm super condutor wires. just got a rebuilt motor from jasper engines and it is running awesome and i feel more and more power with every mile as i break it in im only at 350 miles so far. but yea only OEM opti. goodluck!!

 

I checked it out and I just don't have that kind of money right now. If any one has one that I cold purchase let me know. Greg

 

Buy one of those cheap optis and you will end up spending twice the money than if you had bought a GM opti to start with. People have had good luck with the aforementioned thepartsladi.

 

After researching all night I went ahead and ordered the opti from the ebay guy thepartsladi it was 277 shipped. I also ordered 8 new AC Delco plugs pn 41906 from ebay as well for 30 shipped. Ordered plug wires pn 32143 from summits ebay store they were 135 shipped. I will also change my air filter, fuel filter, service my tranny with new filter and fluid, will service my rear differential with a fluid change, and might as well do an oil change while I am under the car. If anyone can think of anything else I need to do let ne know.

 

No problems with my Partsladi opti....just replaced it about two months ago.

Excellent decision!,
Ivan

 

Recieved all parts today. This thing is a chore. Spent 5 hours on it and all I got was the oil changed and the opti off. Will stap it again first thing in the AM and hope to complete my modified 100K tune up. Wish someone would have told me that I had to remove my Harmonic Balancer before I tried for a hour to get one bolt out. If any one reads this, do I have to take the cap off to line up the rotor to the old position or since the spline will only go on one way my timing will stil be right?

 

If you line up the splines correctly, that is all you have to do.

http://shbox.com/1/93-94_opti.jpg

 

You didn't ask... There are a lot of write ups out there for working on your LT1. Shoebox's website is like a bible for 4th gen LT1 owners...

 

Only if his is a 93-94 right??? 95 and ups have that three leaved clover look to em and there is supposedly only one way it'll go on easy.

http://shbox.com/1/opti_back.jpg

There should be no reason to take that cap off at all.....

Good luck and keep at it,
Ivan

 

Ok. No I did not have to take the cap off. I did line up the splines which was a pain in the butt. Any ways After 20 total hours of being either on my back under the car or on my feet bent over the nose I finally finished what needed to be done under the hood. I still have my fuel filter, tranny, and rear diff to service. a few questions for any one keeping tabs. Is it normal to leak a little oil after removing and reinstalling the harmonic balancer? I know I should have relpaced the seal but I did not feel like driving 15 miles to the parts store to get one. I will pick one up next time I am out if it is still leaking. Also my thermostat seemt to take forever to open when ever I drain the system. Is that normal or should I look in to it. Thanks for all the responses.

 

It's all good. My car leaks like a tijuana ***** on a Monday morning.

As far as the thermostat and all that junk...

Whenever I do it, I get a good clean bucket and put it under the petcock of the radiator....remove the drain plug....also remove the radiator cap so that you don't create a vacuum on the system. Please don't do this when the car is hot by the way.... you can get a huge amount of the coolant out this way. If you remove the upper radiator hose, you can wipe it off with a clean rag and blow another large portion of the coolant out into your bucket. Pretty much do this with all the hoses working your way from top to bottom and you can get 90% of the coolant out of the system. Another tip I would recommend would be to put some old shop towels or rags or whatever you use aoo up and around the top of the Optispark that way whatever coolant you do spill gets absorbed by them instead of working it's way into the cracks and crevases of the Opti.....

That's how I do it and I can rock the R/R in about two hours now....maybe two and a half if I ain't got a Dr Pepper with me.

I like using some old rubbermaid/butter tubs for the parts too....makes it way too easy when you are putting it all back together again.

Good luck and keep at it,
Ivan

 

After about 24 hours of labor I am happy to say that my Z is back on the road. I was able pick up the bolt that I needed from my local dealer today. The Best part about this project besides having my car back was I was forced to buy 2 new tools. a pully puller which replaced the one that I loaned my neighbor who moved. Tha second was a tap and die set which I have need for a while now and now I have one. My car now doesn't leak and it runs good with the 500 dollars in parts in it. Thanks for all who have helped. In the short time I have been part of this fourm I have grown to enjoy it. Greg

 

He already said his Opti had a splined shaft, and the link he provided for the eBay Opti was for a 92-94 unit. No need to correct Shoebox.

It always a good idea to take the cap off and check to make sure the screws for the rotor are tight, and even to loctite the screws.

Why did you pull the entire harmonic damper (its not a balancer) off? All you needed to do is remove the damper/pulley from the hub, and rotate the hub as required so the Opti clears the 3 arms of the hub.

What do you mean when you say the t'stat seemed to take forever to open when ever I drain the system"? Do you mean on engine startup it takes longer for the coolant to reach the level required for the t'stat to start to open? Are you sure the system is completely filled with coolant, and did you use the correct procedure to remove all the air from the system.