ill tell you that my 97z is very reliable, ive had it for almost 2 years now and the only problem ive had was the turn signals and break lights keep going out. its a quick fix and the car needs little maintenance, real fun car too.

 

Changing the cap and rotor on the opti is the same idea s the parts on a regulaor distributor only a LOT more involved. Fans out, water pump off, balancer off and then you can get to the weird e4 screws. It's involved enough for me to replace the whole thing the few times I've had to. For all the ruckus, the OPTI isn't the demon it seems to made out to be. If you do change things only, I can't say this strongly enough, use GM DELCO or DELPHI parts. The reman stuff is junk and the aftermarket distributors from MSD have a bad reputation.

I've had 3 4th gens, a 95 Trans Am that was lost to a fire (spectacular after pics!), a '95 formula and the '94 T/A I have now (and have had for 7 years). Only one OPTI (95 formula) was replaced due to failure over the combined 13 opti years. Of course, I don't wash the thing using any cleaners of any kind, am particularly **** about keeping coolant off it and don't run any aftermarket ignition boxes.

I did change the opti on the 94 as well but that wasn't due to a failure. I as upgrading the timing set to a true roller and you can't do that with the older style opti. If you find a 94 car in great condition don't let the opti scare you, you can alwayd update the system as well. You'll need a new timing cover (ebay) and a new Opti but everything else is pretty cheap...

There is also nothing wrong with the 96 and 97 cars. They have OBD2 computers, making scanning a little more infomative and have an extra engine part or two (crank position sensor) but virtually everything else is the same. They can be tuned and modded and there are some seriously fast cars out there....

Enjoy yourself and welcome to league of crazies...

 

This is certainly the site to be on if u want LT1 info...Opti, manifold leaks...thats about it.