I know this question has probably been asked a lot. I got my car back from the shop today, needed a new wire harness to opti, got melted. Well, I asked them to look at the oil leak that I seem to be having. He looked and said that he could not pin point the leak, as he would have to remove the opti and possibly water pump, said it would be a fortune in labor. He said it is not too bad, but must monitor it. My question is, can I maybe use 10W30 oil, could this help. He said it would be a good idea if I decided to fix the oil leak to replace the opti, water pump etc... as it all looks original, car has 83K. I think I am going to give it all a try in a few months time myself. I am sure that it will be cheaper than the $1500 he said it will probably cost. I think I am going to talk to a friend, he has the equipment to pull the motor and maybe pull it and get a little crazy with the block. I wanted to know what might be a nice setup to go with if I take this route. I know about the LT4 hotcam kit, but what are your guys opinions? Maybe different cam and should I port my LT1 heads or get different heads? Sorry for all the questions, but am pretty excited about maybe doing this. Thanks

 

$1500 Do it yourself. I had mine apart and back together in about 3 1/2-4 hours my first time. I can do it a good bit quicker now since I have done it 4 times now Just do your homework and read all of the writeups about it and you should be fine. The leak is more than likely coming from one of the seals on the timing cover, pretty easy fix. I would suggest that if you are going to do that much work, you should go ahead and buy a cam and install that while you are at it if that is in you plans. It will save you from doing everything twice.

 

Thanks, will be looking into the info. Just wondering which write ups you might have looked at and what manual you might have used/which is a good informative one to get.

 

If ya do a cam you should be near a lift, those oil pan bolts can be a pain!

 

Opti Install page can be found here...... http://www.streetillusionsracing.com.../opti/opti.htm

 

Thanks for all the info, is there a guide at all for the timing cover removal, told that it could be that which is leaking the oil or a crankcase seal. Is there also a guide to the manifold oil leak fix, it may be that too. Thanks for all the help.