I guess there would be a maximum thickness they would make them, just not sure if they are all exactly the same. The back of the of the opti drive does not appear that it touches the gear, only the dowel pin.

 

I definitely had to cut some off of my Xe230/236 cam dowel pin. It was so long that couldn't even get the timing gear back on.

 

Ok well I measured the pin length and its .5 inches or 1.27 centemeters. This is how far the pin sticks out from the cam.
"Some say total length should be .620" and others .685". I know that my stock pin length was .650 and it could have been longer without a problem. Measure the pin on your old cam."

But you said that yours was .410inches??
So is .5 inches too long?
.

Do you have to pull the cam out to tap the pin back in?

Trying to get the car back on the road today and i dont feel like pulling the cam if its possible to tap it in while the cam is installed. dont want to mess up the cam bearings... maybe remove the timing chain and support the cam behind that sprocket??

Or just cut it with a dremel?? Im guessing cutting would be better than grinding cuz it'd be even..??

 

Your words are confusing. If you read my posts, I said my pin length [total] was .650" and then I said it was .410" from the cam gear. Two different things.

So where are you measuring yours? I don't think I know for sure. Use some clay and fit the opti on and see how far the pin penetrates into the drive. Another thing is, if your opti does not fit flush to the block by hand, then you know the pin is too long. If you cut or grind it, you will want to bevel the edges of it to make it easier to get the gear on and off.

 

Sorry for the confusion.

The pin actually sticks out .5 inches from the cam. The cam is install right now with the opti off and I put a ruler up to it and measured the distance from the face of the cam to the end of the protruding pin.

I was looking in the search and saw that it should be .620-.650 inches on a 96 z28.

The opti does fit in flush.
i could measure the inside of the dowel then measure the pin again to make sure it fits ok.

Too long of a pin will press against the dowel which pushes on it... this is what kills the opti when the pin is too long right?

 

So your cam is installed and there is no gear on the cam? Do I understand that right? It would appear your dowel pin is shorter than normal, then.

 

the timing cover is still on...
3 bolts are holding the cam in.
So i guess those 3 bolts hold the cam to the sprocket??

so if thats the case it comes .5inches from the sprocket...


Basically i took off the water pump, and opti, and crank.. and there i see the pin.

 

Ok, that sounds better. Yes you are measuring from the front of the sprocket. Now we are back to "maybe too long". Mock it up with some clay to be sure.

 

Ok i put clay in the dowel and found that the pin pushes the clay within 1/8th of an inch to the bottom of the dowel...
(just slightly smaller than an 1/8th of an inch)..

Is that ok?

I know WS SICK said .5inchs is too long... but the pin is not touching the bottom of the dowel.

Should i leave it alone then?

 

Ok, terminology is a little confusing here. There is a dowel pin that sticks out of the cam and engages in the opti drive. There should be some space between the end of that dowel pin and the bottom of the slot it fits in (where the arrow is pointing to). This is with the opti fully bolted on.

Now, if you are saying that you have ~1/8" between the dowel pin and the bottom of that slot in the opti drive, that should be ok. I looked at an old opti I have and you can see a mark on the side of the slot, where the dowel pin had been riding. The mark on mine stopped ~1/8" from the bottom of the slot. Does that make any sense?

 

Yeah terminology can be confusing...
The dowel pin on the camshaft comes within 1/8th inch of the bottom of the slot on the optispark. (the one you pointed out in the picture).

I went out to the car just now...
Guess what I found and just did a search for on the net...

Blue corrosion on the opti spark sensor/harness... the one that plugs into the top of the optispark....

So thats probably the actual cause..
I had a hose bust on me not to long ago that i fixed that sprayed the opti area...

I'm going to put all kinds of stuff around the new harness and opti area to keep it from corroding again...

But to answer the original question... 1/8th inches away from bottoming out on the opti slot is ok right?

Thanks again shoebox. I'd be in deep without your help.

 

I would say you are ok on the pin from your description.

Yes, someone else was going through optis because of corrosion on that plug cause by coolant contamination. Clean it up well. I think you should be able to buy some corrosion inhibiting grease you could put on it. Maybe even bulb grease would work adequately.