Those opti's are remanufactured. I bought one last year.. they do not have the dependable Mitsubishi optical sensor that came from the factory units. With that said.. mine has worked flawlessly for 250 miles.

 

They are advertised as "new" pieces. Someone on another site disassembled a unit purchased via this sale and said it had the Mitsubishi sensor.

 

take the cap off and see what brand the optical sensor is!

 

Believe me, the search is on for an E4 torx socket. I bought one years ago, but it's in Kentucky and me and this opti are in Michigan.

I'm going to be pissed if this thing isn't as advertised. It appears that Summit has a 90 day return policy on new or unused parts that I could exercise.

 

I found a shorty E4 torx socket at Autozone. Hopefully that will work. I don't believe I've ever disassembled an opti to the point of checking out the sensor, so I hope this is the only specialty tool necessary. If all goes well, I'll post my findings this evening or tomorrow.

 

You can use the head of a Torx 15 screw as an E4 socket. Just wrap the threads in tape and grab it with vise grips. You have 6 Torx 15 screws on your throttle body cover plate if you still have a stock TB.

 

Thanks, Fred. My car and throttle body are also in Kentucky. I bought the E4 socket from Autozone. I think it was 3.99, so not a huge expense. Hopefully that's the only tool I will need to gain access to the sensor. I'm certainly curious as h*** what's in there, I can tell you that.

I bought this opti as a spare under the impression it was the real deal. Jegs appears to have the same units, or at least the same brand, but they aren't on sale, and they are listed as remanufactured.

Chevrolet Performance 10457702 Chevrolet Performance LT1 Optispark Distributor

I just noticed that they are backordered at JEGS. Summit said they were discontinued, so maybe that's legit information.

At this point, even if it's remanufactured I probably would not care as long as it has the Mitsu sensor. Otherwise, I'm going to be disappointed and looking to return it.

 

Relief sets in. Now if I can just get it back together.

I have no idea whether this thing is remanufactured, or how I would even be able to tell, but at least the optical sensor appears to be legit. To me the thing looks new. If they reused the aluminum housing and/or magnetic shielding, I'm not sure how much difference that would make, but that stuff looks new to me also.

Is it common, or recommended, to seal these things up with RTV or something similar?

 

Ordered mine, on Sunday. It will be a big relief to get mine in, since my car has a miss at idle, and has started back firing once in a while, too!!

 

Wow.. I have the exact same part from Summit with no Mitsu sensor!

 

I see Summit advertises them as brand new.. while Jegs advertises them as remanned...
Chevrolet Performance LT1 Optispark Distributor - JEGS

 

Are you sure the opti you bought was the same brand? Based on everything I could find, there does appear to be an actual affiliation between GM Performance/Chevy Performance and General Motors. I guess I would expect them to offer authentic GM parts.

I also noticed that JEGS describes them as remanufactured. JEGS also has the unvented units listed as backordered. Summit said these items were being discontinued. The part number listed on JEGS, at least for the vented units, is the AC Delco remanned part number, 19212300. They still show the original part number for the unvented units. Maybe Summit is selling through new old stock before they begin stocking the remanned pieces. Who knows.

I have no idea whether these are re-manufactured, and I'm not sure how I would be able to tell. To my eyes, everything about it looks brand new. The price seems very good, regardless. I do believe I have seen pictures of remanned AC Delco units that were stamped, or labeled, as remanned.

I'm honestly thinking about buying another one and venting it via that article that was run in GM High Tech Performance article, or Corvette Performance. I've got more pictures I could post if anyone is interested in seeing them.

Here is the article. It's Corvette Fever.

Opti-Spark Options

Do a lot of people seal these things up with RTV? I haven't put it back together since I disassembled it, and I'm thinking about using some sort of gasket maker, at least where the cap and rotor bolts to the base.

 

I swore i bought the chevy performance brand, but i see summit also sells acdelco remanufactured units.. so it is possible thats the one i got.. i would buy one of these if i wasnt planning on going to efi 24x. Good price and a reliable sensor. The delphi units people buy dont have the mitsu sensor.

A lot of people do seal these up with rtv around where the two halves bolt together. I just loctited the rotor screws and put it back together. Mine is the vented one.. and is not a every day driver.

 

I would be surprised if the Delphi units did not have the Mitsubishi sensor. According to Wikipedia, both AC Delco and Delphi were, at one time, divisions of General Motors. At some point GM created a division called Automotive Components Group to manage the AC Delco division. I think ACG eventually became Delphi and was then spun off at some point as its own company due to bankruptcy etc.

I suspect that the AC Delco and Delphi optisparks are essentially the same thing. Whether or not they're both remanufactured now, I don't know. Even if they are, I would expect that they are still using the Mitsubishi sensor, but I'm just guessing. As a consumer, it would be nice to know since that appears to be the most critical component of this distributor.

I've heard about the 24x system, and seen posts in these forums, but haven't really read much about it. I just googled it, and it looks like it completely eliminates the opti, whereas some other systems utilized the optical portion. That might be a worthwhile effort, and it looks like it could be done for the approximate price of two remanned AC Delco optis.

 

Well, economics aside...I sincerly doubt you can really do it for the price of two optis....I'd be concerned about the tuning. How do you transfer your tune to the LS1 pcm, accounting for the diffrence in firing order, etc. Is this something the tuners will/can do?