can i get some feed back from you guys on the msd billet opti my car just hit about 100k and im doin a forged 383 build its a 97 lt1 a4 and when the new motor goes in so does a new opti and water pump. so just lookin for feedback on it and if its better or worse then a gm opti

 

Most aftermarket optis have a pretty inconsistent hit or miss record. I'd recommend the AC Delco unit.

 

thanks for the feedback anywhere that i can get one online maybe summit or something.

 

Look on ebay, for "thepartsladi".

 

At rpms over 6200 the stock rotors like to explode. I would do a ac delco with the msd cap and rotor or go with the msd opti. I was having a lot of problems, do to high rpms and stock rotors. I ended up buying a MSD opti, opened it up and put thread locker on the two rotor screws. I have ran the crap out of the car for four months now; including 8 dyno pulls. The opti is holding fine; the stock ac delco units failed within two months, all because the rotors exploded. You will need some type of upgraded rotor for high rpm's, and it is also a good idea to use high strength thread locker on the rotor screws.

 

How high are you turning the engine in your signature?

 

I have had two MSD billet opti rotors come off within the first few thousand miles of operation. Both of these were on customers cars that we did the install on. I would highly recommend an AC Delco Opti, it is all we run on our LT longblocks.

I just sold an Accel Opti. Anyone have any feedback on these pieces?

Jake
Cook Performance Engines
www.cpengines.com

 

There is a lot of hate for the MSD opti- it sounds like they have changed thier product a few times and the early ones had a lot of problems. I just installed one and it went on easily but has not been on long enough to give a recomendation. No problems yet.

I did try to take the screws out of the rotor and put threadlocker on them-they were on so tight I was worried I was going to strip them if I put much more heat on them so I left them alone.

 

I spin my 383 to 6700rpm on a Delco opti on a daily basis, and runs just as strong as ever.

 

I've been thru alot of opti distributors. 3 gm delco, 1 Summit, 1 (deltec?) very expensive ($600). The delco units have 3 rotor failures. I end up moding the rotors w/ 1/8" alum rivets. Have not had a rotor failure yet, and, I always mod the rotor.

The deltec? unit and Summit had encoder failures. I have also had dirt and fluid fowl in the gm unit, but, that was my fault during experimentation.

Now I am trying the high-end all-ignition.com Opti. So for it is working. It's internals look identical to the MSD w/o the red color.

I sure do have alot of spare parts, and, I have dissected the Opti to individual parts & rebuilt w/ success.

I don't know what to recommend. B.

 

Delteq is not a distributor - its a black box waste spark setup with 4 coils. Do you mean Dynaspark?

I really don't think that many people have problems with the OEM rotor above 6,200rpm... maybe up toward 7,000rpm???? Your situation sounds like it may be related to your forced induction setup.

 

I am only going to 6500rpms. I don't know why the stock rotors did not hold up, but they did not. I checked every other possibility, like the pin length on the cam and it all checked out. I have had no problems with the msd unit, I did use quite a bit of thread locker on the rotor screws; I couldn't unscrew the rotor If I wanted to. Some people run the stock rotors in high rpms, but I would mod it or buy a MSD cap and rotor for extra insurance.

 

I had problems with my MSD opti in the first 100 miles. MSD replaced and it has been great since (100,000+ miles). I don't mean to hijack the thread but I am interested to know if anyone has found parts to replace the optical sensor in the ACDelco unit. This is what always seemed to fail in mine.

 

Trust me, whatever opti you get, take the cap off, remove both rotor screws and RE-LOCKTITE them!!! They (stock replacements AND MSD BIllet) sometimes miss the locktite on the rotor screws. Some people think they shatter but my 3 replacements simply lost one of the screws, every time at high RPM, however if they over torque the screws then yes they should shatter since that will crack the plastic.

I also changed my stock opti with 120K miles with no problems to:
1) Stock replacement, lasted 100 miles, then BOOM, disassembly showed 1 rotor screw missing, that screw didnt have much loctite on it compared the screw still installed.

2) ACCell replacement, lasted about 1000 miles, same thing, lost one screw and it showed no locktite.

3) MSD Pro Billet, same thing lost one rotor screw... missing locktite.

4) Free MSD Pro Billet Replacement: Dissassembled before install and set both rotor screws with red locktite and didnt over tigheten them.. been running over 8000 hard high reving miles and not even a hickup.

I would sometimes get a slight hickup at higher RPM shortly (within 5-10 miles) before the rotor would grenade, and every time it grenaded it was at 6000rpm or higher, I blame this on the screw falling out and bouncing around arcing out on things.

 

Yes, Dynaspark, not Deltech. I always get that wrong! The Dynaspark did not fit the front 97 LT1 timing cover. The cam index drive pin did not have full engagment and would have been a source of failure. The rotor was a stock plastc rotor with a single rivet (not - 2). Also, the opti section cover plate did not fit well (the gm sock is the best). The cover would not key on center and can shift @ assembly. The Cap was a stock cap. I machined the alum billet case to fit the 97 LT1 cover. The opti encoder failed and I scraped it after calls to the mfg for a fix with NO success. The only people to take re-fund on electrical parts was Summit after a rotor failure with 2 weeks run service. Anyway, that's only 1 of my opti stories. B.