I just picked up an new opti and a coil for about 60 bucks. I've been reading all the posts and picked up a haynes manual for the work.

My question is pretty simple, what else should should I change while I'm doing this?

The car has 130k on it, and has a leaky timing cover gasket. I don't plan on adding a cam since I have no money and I don't want the motor to quit on me. Should I replace the water pump, or get a different timing chain? I can get a water pump for $50 bucks, so I might go ahead and do that. Anything else? Is there a front main seal that should be replaced too?

 

It would be good insurance to replace the pump if you can afford it. I would also replace all the front cover seals.

 

The timing chain cover gasket, water pump gaskets, opti seal, water pump shaft seal, and opti shaft o rings (I may be forgetting something) all come in the same gasket kit (costs like $7 or something cheap like that). Just replace all those pieces. Also, it couldn't hurt to replace the timing chain while you're in there. That adds to the work though, because then you have to line everything back up when you put the timing set back on. If you can handle it, I'd do that as well. The pump couldn't hurt either.

 

Also how to you reach TDC? I keep reading about and I understand it, but how do you do it? Also where can I pick up this gasket set?

 

TDC is pretty simple. Take out he #1 spark plug and rotate the crankshaft by hand until you hear the air coming out of the spark plug hole. This will coincide with the dot on the crank gear facing straight up (12 o'clock). Make sure the dot on the cam is facing straight down (6 o'clock). You might have to rotate the crank a few times to make sure you are on the right phase of the camshaft. Either way, the air coming out of the spark plug hole will tell you the compression stroke.

 

Autozone. I just looked, and it's $7.99 (Felpro).

 

Thanks guys. That TDC sounds more complicated than I thought. What do you mean by the right phase of the camshaft?

 

It's not really that complicated. By phase of the camshaft, he's referring to where the camshaft dot is located in relation to intake, compression, ignition, and exhaust 'phases' or 'stages' of the crank. The crank will make 2 revolutions to every 1 the cam makes, so you may need to rotate the crank more than once to get the dots in the correct position. That's all he was trying to say.

 

Thanks that makes much more sense now.

 

If all you are doing is changing the Opti, why are you concerned about TDC? The hole in the Opti for the cam dowel pin will only allow it to be assembled in one position relative to the cam. At least in theory that's the only way it will mount, but a large number of people have managed to assemble it incorrectly. Point is, you have to be sure you get the correct alignment of the dowel pin in the Opti, and don't need to know where TDC is.

 

I thought I had to be concerned with TDC because I had to replace the timing cover gasket, and I thought it had to be at TDC for the dowel pin.

I guess I read it wrong. I've never done anything like this before. Between studying law and optispark I guess I got confused. I decided to start another thread about my car. A lot of people were telling me that it wasn't an opti issue that I was having. So I thought I would get some opinions on it first.

But to get this straight. I don't have to worry about TDC to replace the opti and the timing cover gaskets?

 

No. The opti only goes on one way. You'll see what we're talking about when you disassemble it. I just assumed you'd decided to change the timing chain as well.

 

Thanks guys. Haven't decided on the Timing chain yet. I'm trying to find a stocker with some low miles on it.

 

A stock replacement Cloyes from Autozone is $12.

 

Really? I just assumed they were $$$ after seeing the Lt4 set in summit. I might as well just figure out the TDC thing when I can get some time to do my opti. Everyone is telling me it's something else though and I shouldn't bother. That's why I started another thread with my cars symptoms.

Anyways thanks Benji.