All too often I here of 'opticraps' going bad. My question is, how much worse are they than regular distributors?

Negatives:

1. Cost
2. Location, time consuming to change.


Positives:

1. Last up to 100,000 miles
2. Location, it looks better than a fat *** HEI with wires all over the place.
3. The optis can go up to 6500 rpm just fine.


What have you got to add?

 

yes they are

 

it was great for its time

the biggest complaint is that GM's engineers decided that putting a water sensitive electronic device under the waterpump at the bottom of the engine...

 

IMO, no.

Compare the cost to an optical high performance aftermarket SBC distributor. The opti is not a high priced piece.

IMO, the only drawback is the location.

It's a wear and tear item like all distributors are. People seem to forget that.

Of course, a distributor-less ignition would be nicer.

 

I'm changing my original 94,000 mile unit while I'm doing my cam...Eventhough it worked fine. Mine has been water saturated a few times. The last time was the day before the GMHTP "fastest bolt-on" meet at Englishtown. I had the car detailed and he soaked the opti. The car kept backfiring and wouldn't hardly run. After driving it about 10 miles, it cleared itself up. The next day, I went on to run 13.1 in 90 degree weather, 80 percent humidity, and a headwind. I don't think it did any long term damage to the opti.
For those who cuss the optis water resistance...Have you ever sprayed water on an HEI?
Changing an opti isn't exactly what I'd call difficult, but it is time consuming.
The cost? Yea...there's a drawback. My non-vented opti cost $280 from Jason Cromer. If you just walk in to a GM dealership without any knowledge or discount, they can nail you for almost $600.

 

Well considering I have had small blocks with HEI distibutor last at least 10 years and when they do die I can get a module for next to nothing and replace it in like 15 minutes I think is is pretty horrible design. I can't believe they made something so bad and put it where they did. I've had 4 optis fail between 2 LT1's. I think it is the wrost thing about the cars and is reason I just sold mine. I will never own a car with the optispark ever again. I may buy another LT1 but I will definetly use some other sort of ignition on it.

 

The waterpump issue has been brought up quite a bit. I've had some issues with MASSIVE amounts of coolant leaking on my opti, but never had starting issues, or.. any issues for that matter. I figure the spark plug boots are sealed, as well as the cam drive seal (both types). How is water to get in there exactly? Maybe moisture from heat, but not actual coolant leaking into the opti. I mean, it is sealed right?

 

I've never had a problem with mine and I'm at 58k so far, I had it out recently when doing the cam and put the original one back in and it's working great. A lot of the people who complain about the optis going bad seem to be the ones with the earlier unvented style. I don't hear as many complaints from people with the vented ones. If mine ever does go out I don't think it is all that diffcult to replace after having it out once.

 

I think alot of people complain because the motor relies on the optis so heavy that you get alot of different issues based just on that one piece. Usually if a HEI goes out its pretty easy to tell and relitively easy to replace as compared to a optispark. I can have my HEI out in under 5 minutes, the optispark I can do in about 15-20 in my truck. Then putting it all back together in the truck is about 30 minutes and the car is about 5 minutes.

if your an old school SBC guy with a rear mounted distributor and you try diagnosing a LT1 , you start replacing everything else cuz thats the way it looks

 

I've still got the original opti in my car, with 84k on it. I even had a badly leaking waterpump and it didn't destroy it. When I go through the car wash in the wintertime the car stumbles for about a minute (and the same in rare cases of extremely heavy rain), but other than that, the opti hasn't missed a beat.

 

Another problem with the opti is its lack of accuracy. When the engine & opti are new, things are OK. But as the timing chain stretches, and the splined drive pin wears, the amount of backlash between the crank and the optical wheel is quite large. This results in spark scatter (variations in spark timing). One reason older LT1's have a rough idle. The newer optis with the pin pressed into the cam have slightly less backlash, but timing chain stretch is still present.

The LS1 picks up its position signals from a large-diameter machined reluctor wheel on the crankshaft, so the tolerance stack-up or timing chain wear doesn't affect spark accuarcy.

 

My opti is holding up... My dad used to power wash my motor all the time... he would even jack the car up and power wash it from the bottom (lol)

And a couple days ago i attempted to switch out my thermostat with a 160 one. Well i forgot to put towels around it and as soon as i took the housing off water coolant got friggin everywhere, the coolant just gushed out. As soon as that happen i about **** my pants and hurryed up and jacked the car up and hand dried everything

 

Ha thats funny mine lasted 55K, about half that time. As atated above its a good distributor put in a BAD place. When you get coolant on it it doesnt like you anymore!!



Chris

 

hella overrated problem in my experiences. Im still on the stock opti, 87k miles, pressure wash the engine all the time, go through car washes with undercarriage washes. Working perfectly on my 230/236 setup.

in other words, my opti owns you.

 

On my 93 the water pump and opti are the orginals with 114k on them.