Money is very tight. I have been given a opti for vented. (goes with new motor I'm building) Current motor is still non vented. Opti died. Don't wanna buy two opti's. Can I dig the internals out swap them to the non to make it work for a few months?

 

The vented is supposedly better, just go to a junkyard and pick up the opti vac harness to go with your vented opti. Don't know if the internals can be swapped, but why bother?

 

well I have everything to do swap. I'm putting together a motor. I don't want to have to same job twice. I'm buying one new opti, for the vented. Still leaves me with messed up non vented. Its a band aid fix til new motor goes in. *SIGH* I don't want to buy two opti's UGH

 

You "bother" because in order to switch from a non-vented to a vented Opti .......... you also have to change the cam and timing cover.

To the "original" poster, sorry ....... I don't really know for sure if the optical sensor within the Optis themselves are interchangeable.

 

oh it is ok, about everything. I'm just trying to get the car to be running for march 10. My son goes for hearing surgery (first time he'll be able to hear properly). I need the car to get to the hospital and back; thats all I need it for. Wife will have the family mini van for two weeks. If it wasn't the operation coming I could wait until the new motor was going in with the vented set up on it. I don't see the point of buying a opti for 200.00 to use for three days. Then buying the vented one for a motor thats not in the car yet..LOL

 

The optical sensor is the same. But the optical wheel is installed differently. On the unvented models (at least the original factory Optis) the optical wheel is tack welded to the rotating drive mechanism. On the vented Optis, its removable without grinding off the weld. Looking at Mike Chaney's "Opti Dissection Page" (vented), and comparing it to my original unvented unit, the internals, including the sheet metal cover for the back section and the harness wire tower are different.

 

LOL, yeah I forgot about the cover...never dealt with the early optis much, mine's a '95, so I have the vented. As far as the cam, every aftermarket LT1 cam I've seen (three Comps and one Edelbrock) has the same length drive pin in it. You just "adjust" it in or out depending on your opti.

 

guess I'll have to buy a non vented opti then. When i finish the other motor I'll have to keep it non vented ...DAMN