LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

opti question

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Old Mar 14, 2009 | 04:55 PM
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first off, would a small crack or break in the opti cover cause the car to stall in mild and worse conditions of rain? if it gets bad out, the car stalls and can't restart for a few minutes. second off, if i do put in a new opti, would that be a good time to do a cam? if it is, what is the best decently priced cam for a stock motor? something that is aggressive but is able to work well with stock parts. i'm not going to do anything else to the motor if not necessary.
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Old Mar 14, 2009 | 05:02 PM
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Yes it would. A crack in the housing would let in ambient moisture. More importantly, if the housing is cracked, the integrity of the opti housing has changed, throwing off the geometry of the cap and rotor.

If you replace the optispark, you're only about 1/3rd of the way through a cam swap. To some it may be a good time to do it, but to others, maybe not. You'd still have to take off the valve covers, injectors/fuel rail, intake manifold, rockers, valve springs, pushrods, radiator, fans, crank hub, timing cover, timing chain, lifters, water pump drive, then the factory cam.

No aftermarket cam will work "well" with stock parts (springs, etc.). If you're going through the trouble of installing a cam, it might as well be a performance cam. If you're not worried about *****-out performance and no guesswork, look into the LT4 hotcam kit. You'd likely need new lifters (if yours are over 100k or in not so good shape), a new timing set, not to mention gaskets and such. You would also need supporting modifications (exhaust, intake, etc,) to compliment a newer aggressive cam.

Expect to pay around $1,000 in parts for the cam swap if you plan on doing it yourself. Don't let me scare you though - it isn't THAT hard of a job to do with a few friends over a weekend.
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Old Mar 14, 2009 | 08:24 PM
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Get a new opti from "thepartsladi" on Ebay. Best deal around.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-96...mZ400037038121

I agree with RamAir95TA, from your post, a LT4 hot cam kit would probably suit you just fine.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...2&autoview=sku
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Old Mar 14, 2009 | 10:04 PM
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what kind of power will that bring to a 96 ss m6 with slp loudmouth I catback and slp cai? probably would get a mail order tune as well.
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Old Mar 15, 2009 | 01:28 PM
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Originally Posted by slp96ss
what kind of power will that bring to a 96 ss m6 with slp loudmouth I catback and slp cai? probably would get a mail order tune as well.
Expect anywhere from 310 to 330HP.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 03:43 PM
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i'll take that considering that's the 400hp at the motor. not too shabby.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 04:46 PM
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Originally Posted by slp96ss
i'll take that considering that's the 400hp at the motor. not too shabby.
It's probably more like 375 at the motor, but I'm just guessing.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 04:57 PM
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possibly true but i'm just gowing by the 80% to the wheels for m6 cars. on the lower end, 310 at the wheels is about 390 at the motor and 330 is about 410 so i figured 400 was in the middle.

plus my car started with 310 hp from the factory, plus cai, exhaust, cam, rr's, tune, air foil, tb bypass, etc. i'd say that's about 75 hp easy.
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Old Mar 16, 2009 | 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by slp96ss
possibly true but i'm just gowing by the 80% to the wheels for m6 cars. on the lower end, 310 at the wheels is about 390 at the motor and 330 is about 410 so i figured 400 was in the middle.

plus my car started with 310 hp from the factory, plus cai, exhaust, cam, rr's, tune, air foil, tb bypass, etc. i'd say that's about 75 hp easy.
Ok, I guess I can see that at the crank.
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