Is The Petris Opti A Good Opti To Buy. Thanks

 

Yes, probably one of the better option. I have one on my car.

 

I've been recommending the Petris for several years now. I moderate and participate actively in two other LT1 dominant sites like this, and have never heard anything bad about the Petris. And the Corvette guys were using his stuff successfully way before we discovered it.

 

I've been running the vented distributor offered by Petris for roughly two years now with zero issues.

-Grant

 

I live about 20 miles from his shop did not know he was that close. Picked one up about a month ago nice people will post a picture of it later. Hoping to start putting the car back to gather in a few more months. Money has been tight. Thanks

 

I've wondered what parts to stock pile if I keep my Camaro for another decade or more. The opti is near the top of the list since a good brand like that might disappear or they sell the company and the new version isn't the same quantity.

 

I've been emailing with Petris over the last couple days, as I'm waiting to hear if my Opti is bad. I just repurchased my 30th Z28 that I owned from 2001-2016, and in less than 200 miles it died on me. Having a fresh water pump on it, I'm wondering if the previous pump blew coolant all over the Opti and helped seal its demise. I never replaced the Opti while I owned it, and assume its still the original...

Anyway, Petris is completely out of pin drive Optis, and has no idea when they're going to get more. I should know Monday if the Opti is bad or not (I work for a Cadillac dealer and have a good tech that's owned several F bodies)...if it is, given I cannot get a Petris, and every other brand seems to have issues, I'm planning to scrap the Opti and go 24x through Torqhead. While I hate to go so radical, I have read nothing but nightmares on every other Opti out there...and I need to get this car going.

Hopefully? Its something else....

 

Did you look into AC Delco remanufactured? Haven’t heard of many issues with those. Generally the second choice after Petris. Seemed hard to find for a while, but I've seen a couple posts recently where people have found them.

 

I find lots of parts on sites like Ebay that the manufacturer has run out of. I have thought of buying a spare incase my MSD pro billet ever goes out. It's been great for 15-20 years. Been so long I don't remember when I purchased it. I worry if the quality of Petris will go down if and when they manufacturer more. I prefer to find one made a few years ago.

 

Thank you for your input...I was hoping you would see this post and give some feedback. I'm pretty sure I can get an AC Delco reman unit through work, as typically if I can find a Delco part on Amazon (which I did), my Parts department can hunt one down as well.

I'm glad to hear from you specifically that Delcos aren't so bad. I had someone on Facebook (I know, I know...) feed me horror stories about Delco reman Optis, so much so that it made me wonder if it was the Optis, or his replacement process...

I love the setup of this unit...I'm sure you've seen them before. I just don't know much about them, and to be honest, while I love that my local tuner could tune my car, the reality is that other than my SLP CAI and 2OTL, the only other mod I plan to do is LTs. This setup is likely overkill for me, but I want something that's as reliable as possible because I do plan to road trip this car around FL a few times a year, and wanted to take it to F Body Beach Bash in SC in October...

24xLink - 'The Works' Full Kit - F-Body B-Body (torqhead.com)

 

Once you completely replace the Opti, IMO the engine is no longer an LT1. It becomes a common small block Chevy with weird coolant flow. When I had my stroker built in 2000, we kept the Opti, but only for the cam position sensor. The Opti fed the cam position to an aftermarket ECU, and the ECU fired 8 LSx coils. Similar to the Bailey Engineering LTCC (which was not available in 2000). To me, that was already moving away from the spirit of the LT1. George Baxter used the same setup on his 30th SS convertible, running 9.0 second / 155 MPH (fastest LT1 at the time - 2001). Tyree Smith, 8.0 / 173 MPH, stated he was running stock Opti/LT1 ignition.

In 2000 I bought a “new in box” OEM pin drive Opti for $200 from someone on the Classified parts for sale on this site. Had to switch to the pin drive to use the LT4 Extreme Duty timing set. 20+ years later my Formula has a new home. The buyer has already had the car to the track several times. ZERO problems with the Opti over that 20+ year period. That's running it on an engine with a 7,200 RPM redline, and a documented (accidental) excursion to 8,000 RPM on a missed shift,

 

I just installed a pin drive Opti from Petris, and my car runs perfect again. Hoping it proves to be a lot more durable than other Optis out there...