A friend of mine says if i replace the opti im going to have to get the engine timed....is this true? also are their any walkthroughs for doing the opti online?

 

Engine timed? What is he on? (No pun intended, but I've never heard of "timing" an engine- especially on an LT1 where there is no ignition adjustment possible save thru the ecm)

http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/optisprk/optisprk.htm

That should help, although a manual is better.

 

No timing required. The opti is timed w/ the cam shaft and only fits one way so there is no way of “timing” it. Your friend doesn’t know what he is talking about. Tell him this is the new age of engine ignition.

 

Your friend is smoking the good stuff.

If it were a typical distributor engine, then yes you'd need to time it.

At least on a Ford.

 

Next person that bitches about an opti install, I am going to smack em.

It is probally the easiest major install in the world. Took aobut 6 hours when I did it last week, but it would probally take about 2 now that I know what to do. Follow the install guides and you will be done in no time. It was probalyl one of the few times I didn't get pissed at my car actually.

 

Whether you realize it or not, an opti swap isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do if your just the typical driveway mechanic. And if you didn't get pissed off at that you're pretty slow to anger. I get pissed just changing spark plugs, dang things never want to thread back in and I always drop the tools or burn my arm. Not to mention I have the casting number from the manifold imprinted on my arm after I'm done. Makes me feel like I was a Holocaust victim or something.

 

I replaced the opti a couple of days ago and it wasn't to bad, it took about 3 hours.

If you have never done work on an LT1 it will be more difficult.

It requires special tools (puller, torque wrench) not just your average hand tools can fix.

Opti install guide

 

well we recently did my water pump....and the car still aint working right i couldnt afford the opti same day as the waterpump but now i can so now we're going to have to do do it all over again altho now after looking at that opti guide lol we prolly wouldnt have pulled the radiator and the ac....altho hes hard headed hed prolly wanna pull it anyway.

 

I pulled the complete fan assembly. I also left the radiator in. It is a really easy install. None of the bolts are hard to get to or anything.

Oh and GreenDemon,

Everyone gets pissed at spark plugs on our cars. Even then though, I didn't feel they were that hard to do with stock manifolds. I got them done in about 2 hours the first time(witht eh casting numebr stuck in my arm :P ), and about 45 minutes the next few times. With the JetHots, 30 minutes tops.

 

The most you want to take off there, is the fan assy. Years ago when I did my water pump, I did not take even the fans off.