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

Lt1 help!!

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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 08:11 AM
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Default Lt1 help!!

Alright guys I'm going absolutely crazy!! Withing 6 months I have switched out my opti 4 times first 3 times were some bs Optis so I figured Id bite the bullet and buy a gm one and installed it 2 weeks ago..wake up this morning and boom NO START!! WTF! How could this happen is there anyone who knows or had such a problem could there be a short or something that's killing my opti?!
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 10:00 AM
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Is it really the opti or the harness from the opti, corroded? and what made you come to the conclusion that the past optis were bad, codes?
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 10:39 AM
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No codes..the same symtoms everytime they went bad had got backfire and loss of power then no start..swapped in a new one and started right up...waiting for new ICM to come from autocrap. I have no spark at the coil and the only thing that means is no signal from the optical sensor or bad ICM or coil which I have a good coil and all that's left is the ICM which was new from autocrap
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 11:16 AM
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Flop lowed the stepparent on shoebox and it comes down to bad opti, or the harness or bad PCM which they say is unlikely..wow I'm in lt1 hell right now..how could my Optis just crap out on me like this?
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 12:54 PM
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Code 16 low resolution wow!!! I am sooo pissed!!
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 02:18 PM
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It's a 95 lt1..but after researching about the dowel pin and according to shoebox comp cams are notorious for putting the wrong size dowel pins in there cams and looking at my old opti I can see that the dowel pin was bottoming out on the opti which is causing it to break..now the reason this was overlooked was because of this horrible machine shop that half assed my engine together and not taking there time to correctly build my engine..this is not the first problem these guys installed my harmonic balancer without checking the correct fitting causin my balancer to fly off in turn breaking my double roller timing chain and bending all of my pushrods!!! There name will be plastered all over this forums and others to be sure for no one to take there engines there!!!
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 03:14 PM
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That's shitty. Sorry to hear. Few thoughts:

1) I believe the stock tolerances on the dowel pin are between 0.620"~0.685", but my camshafts from Comp Cams have always had dowels around .600" without any issue. If you have a pair of dial calipers, just use the depth gauge to ensure the length of the dowel protruding from the face of the cam gear is less than the depth of the marked slot in the Optispark.

2) I always recommend disassembling new Optisparks to apply red loctite on the rotor screws, as well as sealing the housing with RTV upon reassembly (I even RTV electrical tape over the bolt recesses in the cap). Also, use dielectric grease on the electrical connector to keep moisture out. If you had a shop do this, make sure they reconnected the Optispark vacuum lines (one should go to the intake elbow/bellows, and the other to a vacuum fitting on the driver's side intake manifold).

3) I know not everyone always has the time, but it always pays to do the work yourself. I've seen shops around my area do some really shoddy work -- I wouldn't trust them to tie my shoes, let alone touch my car. Plus you save hundreds on hourly labor rates. Sounds like the shop you've found is really nefarious.

Originally Posted by blk3rdgen91
Flop lowed the stepparent
Out of morbid curiosity, is this English, or did I just suffer a stroke? Typing on a cellphone?
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 04:09 PM
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Typing in the iPhone lol..yea I'm going to do this I change em out in less than an hour now kind of an expert lol...yea I lock tight them down and Rvt em. I found all the dowel pin info on shoebox which is an lt1 life saver! I'm going to shave down the dowel pin with a grinder to the appropriate length and have this beast up and running again this weekend
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Old Feb 7, 2012 | 04:11 PM
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Here check this link on shoebox
http://shbox.com/ci/cam_install.html
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