MSD Opti spark questionI know that when the MSD Opti frist came out there were problems with them but has anyone heard of there being problems as of late? Is this a worthwhile purchase? I belive my opti has recently begun to fail and I came across an msd opti for a VERY good price. The problem is that is was installed and never worked. The guy told me thathe lost his receipt and could not return it so it has just been sitting there ever since. After contacting MSD they told me that the maximum repair cost would be $125. So I could have a rebuilt brand new MSD opti for less then $250 is it worth it or should I use a Delphi unit from the parts lady?

 

I believe thepartsladi is now defunct, if that affects your decision. For the price you are considering, the MSD may be worth the go.

 

Well thank you very much! If you say it's worth it then that's good enough for me.

 

The MSDs are not opti hell, but just not worth the premium price over a GM unit (IMHO). Since you can get the MSD so cheap, that evens the playing field a little.

 

i just got mine...it looks amazing and seems pretty solid...but i havent installed it yet

 

i can say with my experience with them ...when i fifst put my 383 together i literally went through 5 gm optis in the first 5 months...2 only lasting me a day{well one lasted a whole hour...lol}.they kept grenading on me no matter what i did to them and always had a miss in them.....ordered a msd cause i figgured what the heck might as well and didnt like the ltcc system i had clogging up my engine bay after i was sick of just opti systems not working right....i can say ive had it in my car for about 13000 miles now and i love it.....no problems here at all with mine and its actually held together....the only other thing that was done at the same time of install which might also have to do with its living compared to others was i swapped in solid motor mounts and upgraded to a different balancer but the is my 2 cents on them....i highly recomend the units

 

I have seen good and bad with them

 

most people say they are junk. not to mention the timing adjustment that is only going to get you in trouble

you want the best get a dynaspark, if not stick with a gm unit

and if your going through gm units you are either doing something wrong, or not getting gm units

 

I'm not planning to adjust the timing at the opti. My tune already has been programmed to increase the timing a bit.

 

A problem with the MSD unit (IMHO, of course) is that you have no foolproof way of knowing if the adjustment is accurate or not (unless you do some serious investigation using a timing light and makeshift pointer). Some people have reported the adjuster screw not operating properly. Turning the screw this way so many turns and that way so many turns is hardly scientific compared to how detailed the adjustments in the PCM are done. Plus, the timing change is global, just like rotating an old school, rear mount SBC distributor would be. IMHO, it was an idea better left off for most people.

 

there is now a replacement, the company that was supplying thepartsladi has started there own ebay account to cut out the "middle man"

thepartspros

i agree completely and thats what i was getting at, nice explanation

 

ive had mine in for around 5000 miles, works great so far, the timing screw is there but wont touch it, i dont even know if it works? i heard its very hard to get the timing right again if you touch it.

 

And there's no way to tell if the timing screw was set correctly when you took it out of the box.

See the problem?

 

lol, this never gets old.

 

IMO (and experience), The MSD opti's are about on the same "PRETTY BUT ZERO BENIFIT" level as the Edelbrock LT intakes are.... A bunch of additional money for a bunch of features that sound GREAT on paper, but offer ZERO real-world advantages when put to use (and sometimes dis-advantages)...... I suppose, it's nice that these companies are still thinking about the LT engines, But man... you can really tell that the designers aren't into them, & don't personally own any....... I've removed "PLENTY" of the MSD opti's on customers cars on a pretty steady basis since they came out (Just last month I removed another dead one in a 96 Vette that was less than 3 months old.......While "still" to this day I've NEVER had one single issue with a (Later Vented style) AC Delco Optispark unit that was "what I consider to be" installed right....(IE: FULLY silicone-sealed....Red loc-tighted in rotor bolts, and "very importantly" having checked (& corrected in "MANY" cases) the cams dowel pin relation in the opti's rear slot.....I agree that they're finicky with a bunch of little idiosyncrasies(that many people aren't aware of when they put one on their car), they're In a bad location on the engine, but when set-up right, they "usually" provide many many years of trouble free service...................Joe