LSWaaa?

ive been entertaining the idea of buying an LT1 so ive been doing my homework on it. i found out that the Opti-Spark tend to go out and are a ton to replace. my question is what is an opti spark and how much is it to replace? also what is the general mileage when they tend to go out?

ZFan88

iTrader: (4)

I have 90K miles on my 96 Z and stock Opti, although I have obviously replaced all plugs/wires

ToxicFormula

**** both opti on my previous '93 lasted till like 107k and the one on my current '94 was still working when I took it out. I just took it out cause I was putting al the parts from my '93 onto my '94 including my Dynaspark. My Dynaspark was 600 but it was a very good investment in my opinion cause instead of having to replace the whole opti, if something ever does go wrong with it (even though I doubt something will) you can just replace that one part instead of the whole thing.

camzaro28

mine just went out a couple weeks ago. took me 4 hours to replace and i was taking my sweet time. an easy job to say the least, if u know ur way around an LT1.
and the opti costed 250 shipped from jason cromer

LSWaaa?

sweet. still need to know what the hell an opti spark is though.

camzaro28

it is the distributor for an LT1

94CamaroZ28SS

yeah its in front of the motor right under the water pump.....its not that hard to replace, i bought mine off ebay brand new for about 250 dollars......mine went out at 100K miles, but i helped it along by drag racing my car and taking it to redline everytime, and driving the car over 1000 miles in one week.

camzaro28

http://www.hashmarks.com/techtips/ca...20attached.jpg

follow the wires from the passenger side, they run into a yellowish brown thing on front of the motor. that is the OPTI

LSWaaa?

which are they more likely to give out on, A4 cars or M6 cars?

camzaro28

it is most likely to go out on a LT1 car that runs through a puddle, or the waterpump goes bad and coolant saturates the opti.

moisture/water is the main reason for opti failure

kc-unit

iTrader: (2)

OPTI's suck... end of story... they were a good idea... BUT they are VERY sensitive to water / moisture...

My Z had about 91k on it... ONE rain storm... and it was done.. I dont remember going through any puddles either...
I know having headers increases the chances that it will be ruined.. because of the steam produced...

i would say go with a crank trigger and coil pack set up... Pricey.. but worth every damn penny!
OPTI's are also known to fall on thier face after 4700ish rpms.. I DID notice this before i replaced it.. but I went with FULL MSD, including the coil... and it does NOT fall on its face at all now... and I sihft around 5600...

If you KNOW your car wont see rain... go for it.. dont sweat the OPTI.. although if the engine is going to be out.. replace the cap and rotor with an MSD one and the coil as well... while you are there.. swap that water pump as well... This will just save you worry, and possibly money, in the long run....

ToxicFormula

I don't know about the fallin on its face part cause mine never did that but then again I'm only one person so maybe mine could have been a lucky opti I know my car shifts WOT at 5800 and I have yet to have anything go wrong with my dynaspark.

scrmnws6

iTrader: (7)

I had a miss up top, thought it was the opti. Replaced the opti, still have the miss, so I know it wasnt it. The original opti had 83k on it, and it was still good. I did convert to the Delteq, but still used the opti for the cam sensor.

ToxicFormula

did you try looking for a dried out wire?

LSWaaa?

for those people that have gone the opposite route and done an aftermarket MSD setup, have any pics to share? this is what i would eventually like to do.

phrozen755

iTrader: (5)

I think my opti is going...I just rolled over 70k....however I'm not sure...

She'll hesitate at around 1,500rpms - 2k...after that she's fine but she hesitates, ever so slightly...first words out of my mouth were "****...my opti's going" then I made a sad face like this =>


Anywho...I'm going delteq later...just wondering now if it is for certain my opti is going...and if I go delteq if I'll run into any problems if I choose to do a cam or supercharger later in life?

Sorry for the hijack, but it'll also be good information for you to know aswell when learning about optis =)

LSWaaa?

no harm done phrozen