I am going thru the ignition on a LT1 I just bought.
Any suggestions or upgrades to do at this time? or should I just go with the OEM stuff.
Car is 96 Camaro

 

if its the opti ur going to replace then get the OEM opti only..before installing the unit, it is adviced to open up the opti cap and loctite the rotor screws and then ur good to go

 

As above, if you decide to replace the distributor (aka Optispark) the OEM unit is the best, by far. If the motor is coming apart anyway, I would replace it because it's a real pain to do it in car and they are somewhat prone to failure. OTOH, the units are expensive and some seem to last forever. Go figure.

As far as upgrades, the stock system is fine for most naturally aspirated cars. For forced induction or nitrous, I would get a CDI ignition box and upgrade the coil. Otherwise the stock parts are fine. BTW - some people (including me) suspect that the higher current from a CD box shortens Opti life.

Rich

 

I have to replace the waterpump anyway because its broke.
there was a hose leaking on the optispark and from my other post, seems to have caused a problem with the opti.

What do I ask for at the dealer?
cap
rotor
coil
What about ICM? do they go bad?

 

If water has been dumping on the opti, then replace the entire unit which includes the cap, rotor and base including the low voltage feedback section.

Your best off NOT going to the dealer as their price will be outrageous. PN 1104032 can be gotten from many sources. As Delphi part number CZ20003 here's one source that is very reasonable http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-96...Q5fAccessories

One source that some of us referred to in the past has dried up. Seems GMPARTSDIRECT has gone off the deep end. They want $74 just to ship the darn thing. Time to not refer to them any more.

 

How many miles on the Opti? What "problem" does it have? Have you scanned the PCM for codes?

The scan will tell you if the Opti optical cam position sensor module is working. If the optical module is bad, you need a complete vented Optispark distributor, which includes the base with the harness connector tower, optical module and bearing, plus the front half, which is the cap and rotor.

If your Opti is low miles, and the optical module is healthy, you can get away with the cap and rotor. Since you will have everything apart, I'd pull the Opti, and check the bearing condition as well.

 

I don't know the history of the car. It has 170000 miles on it. I was told the engine was rebuilt 8k ago, but that is all I know about it.
I would like to replace what ever is in there because I don't want to have to have it back apart for a while.

 

I went to advance to see if they had it there. They gave me this:
Delphi pn dc20011 $211.59
Is this the wrong part?

edit:
nevermind I guess that is just the cap.

 

Shoebox has the parts numbers for most major LT1 components:

http://shbox.com/1/Parts.htm

If you type Control+f you can enter "opti" and it will go right to the numbers for the vented and unvented Opti's.

 

Problem solved

There was a hole in the bottom of the intake elbow. So I guess it was getting too much air that wasn't metered.

fixed that now it runs perfect.