OK...

1. The new harness for the 95+ Opti will not mate with my PCm harness, they are keyed differently. What do I do?

2. Everything is back together except for the radiator & alternator, can I start the motor to see if it will fire and let it run for like 1 or 2 minutes to see if it's OK to put everything back together??

Thanks!

 

Don't start your motor!!! You can fry it...

 

I thought so....OK any ideas about the harness?

 

I dont understand that, my 94, and 95 Opti harness worked perfectly?

 

nope....on mine they are keyed different. The old narness had notches on opposite side of the connector, on the new one, they're both on the same side? Can I swap the plastic connector part out?

 

You should be able to, should be the same # of wires. I actually used my 94 connector on my old opti for awhile, although you have to break the opti housing to do this.

How long is this harness you got? It has a plug on the end that looks like an O2 sensor plug yes?

 

The other end is longer than the old one...it fits in the Opti just fine and the side that hooks into the PCM looks identical to the old one except for the way it's keyed.

I think what I'll end up doing is just making the notch on the PCM side with a dremel tool, so it shouldn't be that big a deal...I'll try and post pictures.

 

When I put my opti on, I started my car without the cooling system hooked up. Mind you I only ran it for about 5 seconds to make sure the thing fired up, it'd be a shame to have to tear it all back apart...

 

I'm in the middle of a Hotcam install too... I was also considering doing a quick fire-up after it's together and before I put in the radiator. It would suck to have to drain and pull the radiator again, ya know???

By the way, for those considering this install... it's incredibly time consuming, dirty, frustrating, painful... and did I mention time consuming???? I'm on weekend THREE and I haven't even gotten it all apart yet. If I'm lucky I'll get the hub, waterpump, opti & timing cover off today. Maybe intake, etc, tomorrow... so maybe I can have the cam actually in the car next weekend.... seriously, 24-40 hours of work is not an unreasonable estimate for a home do-it-yourselfer w/ no second person to help.

-Michael

 

I'm going to assume you pulled the top parts off already? When I did my opti over the few days I did it on I think it added up to about 6 hours...doing it again with the tools readily available I think I could do it in 4. The front part, opti/waterpump/etc is pretty straightforward and easy. Once you break the tension on the hub balancer it'll come off very easy.

 

Same here this is the the 3rd (and final) weekend I've been on this project. Honestly it wasn't THAT bad. The thing that slowed me down the most was having to go to autozone for specialty tools and msic. parts.

BTW....I also did the Opti Conversion...where does the vacuum line that goes to the manifold connect?

 

I have done the valve springs, but I've not taken off the intake manifold yet.... I am currently working on getting the @#$#@ hub off the crank snout. I finally got the balancer off after the 3-prong puller ejected from it 3 times.....

Now, I'm using the same puller on the crank, w/ a small (1/4" drive) socket extension in the hole for leverage. Unfortunately all I am managing to do is to mangle the tip of the puller and BREAK MY CRAFTSMAN EXTENSION

Did I mention that the crank snout hasn't moved... not one single millimeter.

Any advice from this point?

Any advice about taking off the intake manifold?

Is it possible to remove the fuel rails and leave the fuel lines connected? I got some funky plastic looking fuel disconnect tools from Autozone, but I think if you offered me a million dollars I couldn't expain what to do with this wonky looking device.... it looks nothing like the ones I've seen. Maybe they gave me the wrong tool??

Thanks,

Michael

 

You guys need to speed things up a bit. Did a complete engine and trans swap in a apartment parking lot in two days.

As for the front hub coming off the crank. You must first realize that there is a bolt holding the hub to the crank. After that the easiest way to break the hub loose is to loosen the bolt that is holding the hub on. Back out the bolt three or four turns and use a harmonic balancer puller to remove the hub the center shaft of the H-balancer will push against the bolt and thus back the hub off.

take the bolt out and just work the hun off the rest of the way. Once you get the hub off you will realize why it is needed to be this way. Or if you have a pal at a GM dealer you can borrow the correct tool and you will be amazed how easy things are job specific tools.

As for the intake you can just remove the fuel rails and hang them off to the side. It did when i did my first cam swap. Just be careful not to bind anything.
Also this should be in LT1 tech.

 

I was told NOT to remove the hub that way because it puts a lot of pressure on the threads when removing it.... Of course I know there's a bolt in there I removed it and using a 1/4" extension I'm getting my leverage off the bottom of the crank snout hole rather than pushing on the threads. Is this not gonna work? I don't see how this could come off by hand. It's on there GOOD.

Thanks,

Michael

 

I loosed the center bolt almost all the way, and let the hub puller push off of that to remove the hub. I didn't get it the first day, and one day after work (I was waiting for my part to arrive) i just went under the car and went VERY VERY slow with a torque wrench..and it popped off. Granted it took about 10 tries...