The Opti on my brother's 94 LT1 went out because of the water pump, again. He bought the new pump and opti and went about installing everything. After he got it back together it would start much easier than before but runs very choppy. He said it sounds like it is running on 4 cylinders.

The opti can only go on the output shaft one way, right? When I was helping him with it the output shaft had splines with a squared area that helps to line it up. He aligned the little shaft in the cam area and then installed the opti onto that. It took a couple tries but he said it went on pretty easy. Anything to look for?

He's checked the order of the spark plug wires and the intake ducting for leaks. He capped the intake with his hand and it pulled lots of vacuum then shut off.
Thanks!

I did a search but didn't have much time to look over everything. sorry if i missed a recent post that would help out!
James

 

The opti can only go on one way. However, I've heard that you can put the opti onto the wrong splines of the output shaft. Basically, the little flat spot isn't all that big on the output shaft and you can actually jam the opti over on with the flat spot being in the wrong position.

If your brother had to use any force at all to get the opti on, that is probably what happened. When every thing is lined up correctly, it will litterally slide right onto the output shaft with no force required.

Aside from that, check the opti connectors, and the plug wires at both ends. My plug wires were pretty hard to snap onto the opti fully.

Good luck!

 

I just did mine and when i put the shaft on the way it was before the direction the rotor was facing was slightly off. I assume it is ok because the car runs fine. Did the rotor face the same as before? I didn't think to ask but there is a adjustment screw on the Pro Billet that i could have set it to the right spot.

 

One more thing. My car ran funny for a while until the computer refigued everything after reconnecting the battery. If it is not real bad it could clear up some.

 

Thanks for the help. I read the posts to my brother on the phone and he's thinking he might have put the opti on with a little force so it could be a spline or two off. He's pretty pissed since he put everything back together and filled the radiator.

More tips are welcome because we won't be able to get to fixing it until, likely, this weekend.

James

 

Oh, one more thing. He said it was running choppy but seemed to be getting better. When he tried to rev the engine though, it would not respond. I don't recall what he described but it did not want to rev.

James

 

Any codes? CEL?

 

He said the only lights on were Brake, Low Coolant, Seat Belt and Air Bag but no check engine.

 

I would say that he needs to pull it back off and make sure it's on correctly. When I put mine on incorrectly , it was fine for one drive down the road. Then, the dowel pin started to move and it got more and more out of time. Eventually, it wouldn't start anymore and it was very difficult to turn over (due to it being so far out of time). A tip for anyone doing an opti install:

Put the opti and wires on, hook up necessary sensors, and start the car. This way you can verify it's on correctly and you won't have to get pissed after you've already put the fans back in and filled it with anti-freeze.