took apart my opti to clean it the other weekend and solved the conspiracy with the design. On the optical sensor itself is a DSM emblem. Damn mistubishi has their hands in everything. Just thought i would let everyone know who didnt

 

The Mitsubishi optical sensor has nothing to do with the opti's crappy design. Place the blame where it belongs - the idiots at Chevy that designed the worst distributor ever.

Heck, even the Buick V6's had distributor-less coil packs since '86. What was Chevy thinking, designing another distributor? To make matters worse, they placed it in the worst possible location in term of water exposure, then buried it behind the water pump.

In 92-93, Chevy advertised it as a "distributor-less" optical ignition. Later they stopped calling it that, because everyone figured out it was a distributor, and a bad design at that.

It was supposed to be very precise, what with all of the timing slots on the optical wheel. However, with the huge amount of slop between the opti and cam, there is plenty of spark scatter designed into it. The '95 and later design is a significant improvement, but still lame IMO.

The LS1 design is the way to go, in terms of reliability, accuracy, and servicability. The short plug wires even make plug changes easier than coil-on-plg designs.

 

Yep, the opti sucks, but when mine go out I'm switching to the LS1 coil style with the LTCC

 

i havent had a problem yet with my opti

 

hope this doesnt break yr heart but you still need the opti to run the LTCC.

 

Actually, Chrysler/Mitsubishi used the optical distributor design, very similar to the OptiSpark, in many of there mid-1980's 3.0L V6 engines. They just had the common sense to locate the distributor on top of the engine in the "normal" position, rather than under the water pump.......

That also explains why the tri-diamond logo is on the sensor...

 

I think the design of the unit is pretty good and spark accurate, it's just the placement that gets everyone in an uproar. A top mounted distributor cannot tolerate being sprayed with water either (just in case any of you youngsters have never gotten a conventional distributor wet).

 

To be honest, I don't find the thing that big a problem. I had to re-and re- mine after the cam install, and and I had it out in less than 2 hours. That is not a big deal as far as I'm concerned. I know personally a guy that has over 250,000 km on his; that is about 150,000 miles. Pretty good if you ask me.

 

the mitsubishi optical sensor equipment is actually the least failure prone part of the whole setup...what dies on you is either the bearings or just plain rust. When you go to the LTCC you retain the optical sensor itself but everything else can go, which makes the unit quite a bit more reliable since theres not all that electricity dancing around in there.

 

I've got nothing against the LTCC. As a matter of fact if anyone wants to give me one, I'll be more than happy to take it. I've heard not one single complaint involving the LTCC and from what I've read, the person selling this is UNBEATABLE in the area of customer service. With that said I think a good point is being made about needing the opti to run the LTCC. If my (or when) my Opti ever dies, I'm going with the DynaSpark. http://www.dynotech-eng.com/dynaspark.htm

I've detailed the reasons why on my webpage, page 5. http://www.cardomain.com/id/jamesz28

 

I hope no one took my thread to heart. It was more of a joke than anythign else.

 

I knew that, and my heart is still intact

 

Not sure if this is the same unit but might want to look at this:

http://www.ls1tech.com/threads/showf...=5&o=7&fpart=1

 

No joke the LS1 guys have it way easier than us!!!!!!!!!




Chris

 

It's not. That guy said he was using a GM opti.