I am just looking for ideas on how to deal with the opti the cheapest. My last LT-1 I made a big mistake and took it to the dealer and ended up paying $900.00+ I am not going to do that again.

I went to AutoZone to check prices and the guy thought the Opti-Spark was a name brand and he said that they didn't sell that brand here After a few mins. of explaining to him that the opti is the OEM GM distibutor for LT1s I think I got it through to him.
Any ways those of you that have dealt with AutoZone on this part tell me if this sounds right the distibutor is sold in 2 seprate orders. The distibutor $129.99 + core charge $85.00 then $119.00 for the cap and rotor. Also I had them price a water pump and it was $134.99 do these prices sound right?

Also I checked a local Chevy parts counter. GMs price for the opti is $515.00, but a friend who works the counter said he can get it for $389.00. I believe I can do better.

I am thinking about tackling this job myself but I don't have alot of good tools (just standard assortment) that I might need for the job. So I might get the parts and check with some mechanics about installing them for me.

Whose got the best opti and water pump prices on the net?

 

Jason Cromer............ Do a search under his name he can sell GM opti for close to what autozone wants...and kill your buddies price...

 

yeah call jason cromer

209 for a vented opti

299 for a unvented one

takes about 2 hours if you are mechanicly inclined

 

It's easy. About a two hour job. You will need a pully puller for the crank. Just take the belt off, pull the water pump off, pull the crank pully and your there. When you go to put the new opti on, grab a black marker and right the firing order on the outside of the opti. The numbers are located on the sides of the opti. Just makes things alittle easier.

Neal

 

You do not need to pull the pulley off the crank. The pulley is bolted to the hub and can simply be unbolted and the hub left on the crank. The last time I asked Dal his price was $198.00 for the vented unit you need. Even GMparts direct has it 1104032 for $234.00. That beats $389.00 any day.

 

It was much easier than I thought... Got mine from Jason Cromer... Took about 2 1/2 hours total.. even cleaning off all the gaskets (which seemed to be the most time consuming lol)

-Robert

 

Opti?? Hmmm lemme think..... Uhh yea I replace mine about every 2-3 months cause they keep coming out like THIS Guess they aren't up to the 10 sec slips anymore :blah:

 

Sounds like it's time for LTCC for you.
I hear the cap and rotor don't appreciate 6k+ rpms very much and the rotor will break sooner or later. I suppose the optical side's limit is the speed of light or something...

 

Yea I tried that and hated it.. The features on the LTCC sucked.. Im either gonna stick with my digital 6 box and get a fast setup with the crank trigger, OR Im just gonna bite it and get that dynaspark and see how that thing does under the torture

 

I think dynaspark spent some time working on the rotor, that way you can bend all the rods and your opti will still work like a charm

 

See http://www.streetillusionsracing.com.../opti/opti.htm for instructions.
You will need an opti and a set of water pump gaskets and RTV. Its not a bad idea to replace the timing cover seals (WP srive and opti drive) and there are 2 o rings on the wp driveshaft that you might want to replace too.
You don't need any more than a regular tool set but its nice to have an impact for removing the crank pulley.

 

DO you have one then??

 

I got a very "slightly" used opti on here for I think was $75! It's worked GREAT since I put it in. It took me a while though to get it on there 'cause I also did plugs and wires at the same time with stock manifolds! OH MAN DID MY HANDS HURT AFTER THAT!

The hardest part I think about doing the opti is probably messing with the antifreeze behind the WP and the WP gaskets (old ones).

Not too hard once you know what's going on!

Good luck.

Kyle