If you were able to do headers you could do the job pretty easy. Having headers on will make the job easier, because like I said that's the biggest, messiest, most tedious part of the job.

Taking everything off is the easiest part, just keep the bolts in a labeled bag like mentioned earlier, that will save you a lot of headache when you put it all back together.

Once everything is off, take this time to CLEAN everything. Make sure all gasket material is off and clean so you get a good seal. Be sure to use copper rtv on the rear and front of the intake, don't use a gasket.

When I did mine I struggled with setting my valve lash by myself, so have a friend that knows how to do it help you. Lucky for me I have a neighbor who builds race engines and he set it for me and all I did was crank the motor a little get each pushrod all the way down so he could set it. I suggest you do it the same way.

It's a pretty straightforward job, it's fun, and the end result is amazing.

 

I am pretty sure he was referring to a comparison between the amount of work between a standard smallblock HEI, and an Optispark.

 

if you have to time the sbc, i would say an opti is easier and i am in the same group that says they are way over rated as far as difficulty to change

these are some of the easiest cars i have worked on - besides a honda

the first time i pulled my motor i had it on the ground in 2 hours

to the op, if you have mechanical experience i say go for it, no problem - just make sure you give yourself enough time and a backup ride in case you cant get it done

 

If you put my 95 z28 and my buddy's 70's 2 door impala side by side, running condition, and with no tools ready or out. And then set out to pull the distributer out of both of them, I GUARANTEE the HEI in his car will not only come out first, but he would have time to run into the house and pop open a beer before I ever got the dampener off!!!

 

and if you had to time the distributor id have them done at the same time, and would rather do an opti any day

i never said it was easier, just not as hard as most make it out to be, and the main point is that these cars are very easy to work on compared to what else is out there - of recent time

 

The ENGINE is easy to work on. Getting to things is pretty damn difficult.

Rich

 

To Dan and Rich.....touche'. Both very good points......

 

It took me two full paragraphs to say the same thing you just did in two sentences.

 

What I'm referring to as "hard" is having to pull everything off the front of the engine to get to it. OK, so each individual thing you have to remove is not "hard" but having to do all that just for a distributor (compared to a SBC or SBF) SUCKS! Thereofore, I call it "hard", compared to something "easy" like a non-LTx SBC.
BTW, since you seem to know your way around the engine, why don't you just drain the bock instead of spilling coolant everywhere pulling the pump? Draining the block (even on this engine) is something I would say is "easy"

 

The difficulty is only relative to the monkey behind the wrench.

 

I myself would like to do this job and before I do I am getting myself some air tools. For the last 2 years of working on my cars, Using my bare hands,breaker bars and legs make jobs not only harder,but pisses me off. Just last month I rebuilt my rearend and I felt like giving up when trying to pull off the pinion nut. Pb blaster, a couple o cycle with the torch and using my leg to push on the wrench it finally broke loose. Air tools would of been NICE!!

 

OH and when you do tackle this job, please take some pictures of the progress. I dont know how everyone else feels, but I love looking at build threads and pictures of the final product.

 

nicely put!

 

True, but even a highly-skilled monkey is going to have a harder time with an opti, compared to a HEI

 

Compared to the Pontiac GTP that i've helped put 3 engines in, doing the 2 engines in the LT1 and transmission separately was far easier, and less time. I think its easier because not everything is jammed up in the front (engine and trans). And we always drop the cradle.

I can attest to little bags and labels. make a check list to take things off before you go into it. Dont forget the starter wires and the ground above it on the engine block, the transmission shift cable, the brake booster plugs on both sides, drive shaft, torque arm clam, etc. (off the top of my head things we have added to our list of "make sure we remember")... but let it down slowly and watch and hear for things ready to go. We undo the shock towers leave the wheels on and everything and its easier to move. Take a ratchet strap to the top of the towers and we put some wheels under the trans and moved it across the driveway into the garage.