Do ALL your work yourself, you will save a TON of money. You are always gonna get shafted for installs espeically on performance parts. For example headers, the install will prob be more then the headers iteself. Get some tools, some jack stands, a jack and do it yourself. Its fun, cus then you KNOW you did it and it works. Who knows what some of these shops do. I stoped taking my car to shops when I found rags under my hood and a coffe cup in my car

 

don't change the Opti, save it for last

i saw here recently that said 90% of all stumbles are due to bad wires/plugs

i have to agree

and for an LT1...OVC is the best way. i know people say they did stock routing, but i burned two sets of MSD 8.5 stock location sets on hooker shorties (w/ the Taylor 1200F firesleeves)
i just couldn't keep 1 or 2 wires from not touching the primaries, maybe longtubes are easier, also cuz the geniuses that installed my exhaust system threw away the stock looms near the block

anyway OVC (Taylor or MSD 8.5 universal) are way WAY WAAYY better than stock routing

 

I would go plugs and wires. Mine was backfiring and and hesitating and it was cut plug wires. Thats about what the dealer will charge you for doing it. They wanted $500 to put new plug wires on my car. I did it myself. The best plugs for an Lt1 are ac delco platniums, the ngk are the best for ls1. I entirely disagree. Lt1's suck to work on. There is no room to do a damn thing. Everytime I work on it, I have cuts all over my arms and there all scratched. I can just about jump inside of the engine bay of my moms suburban. That is something thats easy to work on. change the opti if you have the money, cuz it will make your car run smoother. Thats what I did and I dont regret it at all. -Michael

 

3 years since last tune up...dude i bet you 20 bucks its your plugs/wires...Do them yourself...it takes a long time, but you'll learn alot and be proud of what you did. Get a jack, jack it up. Get a spark plug socket, swivel attachment, a couple difference size extensions, and a wrench(helps if you shave them down, but if you cant do that, you shoudl still be able to do it).
Then go tackle those plugs! Its fun, I promise. I had high speed stumble, it was my plugs....my #8 plug was almost burnt away..and that was only about 1.5 years old.
Get NGK T55's

 

Up in NJ, a friend of mine took his car (94 trans Am) to get an estiamte on the tune-up. The guy wanted $1500! for a basic tune-up! No opti or anything.

Needless to say he was thrilled when I told him to buy the stuff and I'd do it for him for $50. It cost him like $350-400.

 

thanks guys ill update you on what happens. How much do the NGK and ACdelco double platinum run.

 

I agree with the masses. It's a manageable job to accomplish yourself and will save you a ton of $$. I was going to have my car tuned until I heard that it was $500 labor alone. I took my time and it ended out taking two days. But I know it was done right. Nobody cares about your Z like you do.
I got the NGK Iridium plugs personally. They ran $58 for all eight at O'Reilly Autoparts after tax. I checked them 25,000 miles later when I did a header install. The plugs look as good as new. I don't think they added any HP, but I'd highly recommend them for their longevity. I won't BS you, it's not fun to change plugs/wires in an LT1. I also used the MSD 8.8mm wires. They have also served me well.
As for the opti. Unless it dies, just leave it be. If you change the plugs/wires and the car still runs poor, then look at the opti. Yep, it's technically a distributor witha cap, but it's location makes it an excercise in maschocism if you replace it at each tune-up.
When I tuned my car, I did plugs/ wires/ PCV/ oil change/ trans fluid change/ and cleaned the K&N filter. With good parts for all it cost me just over $200 total.

Good luck whatever route you choose.

Schantin
1997 Camaro Z28

 

FYI the reason it costs so much is the cost of the GM parts...so you know the spark plugs from the dealer are about $6 each, the plug wire set is $165 or so, the Opti is ~$300-$500...so if you count just plugs and wires, thats $200 in parts and I think they charge something like 8 hours to change them all at $75/hour...

 

It will give u a feeling of accomplishment when your done. It now one believes you then u can show them all the cuts/scratches/burns on your arms and they wont be able to say $hit. Just make sure the cars been sitting for a while before u try to touch anything. If you run into snags people on the board can guide u through it.

-Michael

 

i'll change you plugs for $50. but you buy the plugs....

 

Back when I had my 94 Z28, I bought the plugs and wires myself, the labor ran me about $250. This wasnt at some rinky dink gas station shop either. I eventually found a guy who had a hot rod shop that was really good and did everything @ $35 an hour.

 

If all you want are new plugs and wires then I agree with everyone else, do it yourself.

But if you have a driveability problem you should take it to someone who knows these cars well. I have worked at a dealership for 7 years and I can't tell you how many people come in after throwing hundreds of dollars in parts at a car to have me fix it for $85 (one hour labor at my shop) or so.

 

got a tune up from the DEALERSHIP...new plugs, cleaned injectors, etc.... it was like $400..not that bad...

 

Sounds like my 95z when I bought it. Changed all the sensors plugs and wires and opti. Took me a month to do all of mine (do to my day job) but now she runs like a charm. good luck.....

 

I'd change the plugs and wires (yourself) it's not that bad. Do that first then see what it does. If it still has a bad miss i would get the dealership to hook up the computer and see what they find. Don't just keep replacing everything you will run out of money before you find out what it is. My car was doing the same thing, come to find out whoever owned it before me never changed the #8 plug.

derick