OK, I for one think this is a great product. Nobody else has even attempted to make the Opti better.

I can honestly say I have 108k miles on my original Opti (knocking on wood) but would likely buy this unit when she does go. I too do not want any more clutter under the hood than I have now....the Opti does work just fine, and I even powerwash my engine bay (although I never directly spray on the waterpump or Opti area).

So, can this unit withstand a powerwash? Has that been tested? If so, put that info on your website, that will sell it all by itself!

I can agree that $600 is quite a bit of money, but I would rather spend $600 for your item if I did not have to change it again than using some sort of modified or "rigged" system to try and eliminate the Opti. No matter what, it appears that we will have this for the long term, no matter what part of it is eliminated by the LTCC or whatever else comes along. So, why not just use this Dynaspark? Are the gains from something like an LTCC really worth the clutter and the time?

OK, how about a group purchase? This board has a lot of that going on, so if you could sell 10 at once, what would be the price? 15? 20? As others have said, sell more but for a little less, you still come out with the same amount of profit and you end up getting your product into more hands and more people writing right here about it! That ought to be worth a few bucks? You set the price depending on the number sold......so what have ya got to loose? I want one for sure, and heck, I'd even change mine before I even need it!

So, send me a PM if you like, I'd love to hear what you have to say.......really!

Thanks for making this! Do not stop, truly......you have already spent the R & D money, stopping now would only hurt your bottom line.......

 

You made some good points.

There are many judges out there naysaying this product, but few have one. I do.

Regarding the power washing thing, I haven't tried cleaning the engine yet. But I can tell you from handling this unit and examining the workmanship and materials used if this unit can't handle a basic SBC cleaning, I can't imagine what similar product could. It appears to have a far better seal between the cap and body and on the wiring connections. This sucker should be weather and weekend washing safe. If not I will be the first to report otherwise.

 

this is just my opinion, or maybe i have a beastly opti. but it withstands powerwashes just fine, including undercarriage automatic ones.

 

I have a 94 Z, and everyone seems to say 94 is the worst model for the opti, or at least that is what I hear. How many of you would be stumped to hear that my opti is still stock and ran 158 k miles? Never had a problem here!

 

I correct myself, it didnt quit at 158k...its still functioning. Poor choice of words earlier. I said it "ran" 158, the correction is that its been running for 158k and no problems.

 

It is made of billet aluminum so that it can be machined too much higher tolerances than plastic. Also, it makes a much stronger mount for the bearing.

This explains why plastic just wasn't cutting it:
http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...=336815&page=6

Keeping the optical sensor clean and the opti free of moisture is key.

There are no problems with the original sensor. The problem is that it gets dirty all the time and corrodes due to moisture getting into the opti.

The dynaspark unit addresses these problems.

 

Heres my 2 cents:

With my stock opti lasting this long so far (90k mi), and only costing 200 bucks brand new, the price of that will have to come down to about 300 for me to even consider looking at buying it. i can get 3 optis for one of yours. I think that is the main problem, too expensive.

You are best off stopping work on this opti and looking for a way to eliminate the opti. Heck, I can buy an LTCC system and 8 coils for the price of your opti.

JHMO

 

where the hell can you get a ltcc for 600? I need one right now and I think that would be a better option than a dynaspark. No offense Im really thinking about getting your product but I think that the LTCC would really be better

 

I will more than likely buy it when it craps out again. Unlike some of you lucky people I am now on opticrap number three. If something will increase the time that I have to go digging into the engine compartment I would gladly buy it and should have but I didn't have the money for something that much. For all of you that have had opti luck, it's only for now and you might as well do your water pump at the same time. Decrease the price at least some, I swear people would buy it.

 

400 for the LTCC, 150 or so for coils, 50 for wires.

 

yeah but where from?

 

http://www.geocities.com/reilym/LTCC/

 

This is not totally a bolt-on deal but will require some individual creativity on mounting the coils (making a bracket to hold the coils, etc) and getting the plug wires from the coils to the plugs, see the pictures below. The harness is plug and play, no splicing required. It uses 8 LS1 coil packs which you would also have to purchase along with some other parts. Below is a suggested list of parts I snatched off the CamaroZ28 forum. The items that you must have to do this mod are in bold and it is the final item we are GPing here. Expect to spend at least $750 on the whole project, less if you junkyard some of this stuff.


8-#12558948 coil
2-#12562864 brkt.,coil mtg. (or make your own)
8-#10258914 bolt (or 6x1x20mm equiv.)
8-#12560038 bolt
1-#10110859 oil cap
1-#85241 Magnecor wire set (2002 vortec trk.) or Taylor cut to fit wires.
6-generic 1/4x1 3/4 pan hd. bolt/stud (brkt.mtg.-personal pref.)
1-LTCC Module/Harness

 

Here's my .02, R&D, production, marketing. If you intend to target the general public with this product, at this price, you will lose. If you go for the after market performance types you may have a chance. From the comments in this thread it sounds as if you are producing a high quality product, this should attract the LT1 enthusiast.
Since these engines generally outlast the optispark as time passes demand will increase. The companies that rebuild accessories will jump in when the demand reaches a number that suits them and enough cores become available. You will see cheap rebuilds full of parts from China and Mexico. You may even see new units manufactured offshore.
This does not look to me like a product that would have a very good profit margin, or high volume, good luck on recovering your R&D investment. What products like this can do for a company is aid their reputation when it comes to quality. At times it can be good to produce a product like this at a loss for no other reason than showing that you build high quality product. Good advertisment.
Over 70 years ago Ford Motor Company discovered that the front of the engine was damn poor place to mount a distributor, hopefully some of the reader's will know what I am talking about. Apparently nobody at GM was still alive to remember, the Ford old timers are probably still laughing. In that era other companies manufactured replacments that were slightly better, I dont know Ford ever did, but after 16 years they did move the distributor top the top of the engine.

93Z M6 RED
B&M Shifter
egr, tbb, offroad pipe

 

all prices per www.gmpartsdirect.com

12558948 coil $29.86 X 8 = 238.88
12562864 bracket $ 5.52 X 2 = $11.04
10258914 bolt $2.24 X 8 = $17.92
12560038 bolt $2.14 X8 = $ 17.12
10110859 cap $2.08
85241 = ??
extras = ??
LTCC mdule is $399

nevermind thats about roughly 650 if you get bolts at the hardware store. Thats also still betting that the opti you have is good.