As the title says, picked up their ATI Essentials Kit, tracked down some additional parts and bolted it on.

Brought it to the tuner and away we went. Great instructions, simple install and amazing customer service. I would do this all day every day over the EFI version mostly for ease of install!

Essentials kit does not come with ATI shell, coils, belt or wire boot ends, intake gaskets or PCM bracket.

Custom mounted coils


Take a close look and see a certain part is unplugged Need to swap it for a piece of pipe soon:

And just because:

Helloooo torque curve...err I mean torque table

 

Nice swap! Piecing it together way it run you?

 

I haven't totaled it all together but it was cheaper than buying the full blown kit from them.

I did it my way for a couple of reasons:
1) Because I have resources and knowledge to do it...fabrication etc. Some people may not be able to fabricate and can only handle simple bolt on items.
2) I had spare VC's laying around so I wanted to do something different with coil mounting than what TH offers and cheaper.
3) I spent time researching LS coils...I wanted something common and cheap. The coils TH offers may be the "best" but if one ever broke, they are almost $20+ each than the ones I bought. The ones I have are D514A coils off a Avalanche/Escalade and some other vehicles. Plus I think they look better than LS1 camaro/gto/corvette coils. Found 8 on Ebay for $115 new.

The ATI damper was the most expensive item in the swap (aside from the kit itself). My goals are to do things once and do them right. I plan to build a stout LT1 and spin it to 6500 rpm for autocross and road racing so I wanted a setup able to do that. Factory Opti wouldn't handle it nor be reliable (I still did this swap even though the Opti never left me stranded and I have autocrossed this for the last 3 years). I went 10% UD damper and aluminum for weight savings/efficiency.

I reused the factory LT1 spark plug wires and simply crimped on new $24 90* LS1 capable boot ends. I did not see a major benefit spending $100+ on custom and or universal MSD 8mm wire sets. So that saved a little.

I'm very happy with this kit. The instructions and customer service were/are amazing. I called them on a Sunday thinking MAYBE someone will be there lol, and the owner picked up the phone and spoke to me for almost 45min.

 

I understand that there really isnt going to be any "Gain" in HP maybe some "Freed" up HP with a better ignition. But a baseline before with the Opti and an after would have been cool. I seen an article done where they did a base line and they were claiming +40whp free'd up after a COP style ignition was swapped onto a LT1. This was around 4 years ago when I read it I couldn't help but think "BS" a dyno operator can produce any number he wants with some adjustments.




EDIT: I would still like to go this route even though I haven't had an issue with my opti yet. I like modifying the Comp T/A in an effort to keep up with today's technology...I guess in that case its time to swap in a new gen LT1.......time to hunt down 20K hahahah

 

I didn't go it for the potential HP gains. I did it because my future plans would not go over well and reliably with an Opti. Plus LT1 tuners are becoming rare. A good friend of mine owns a speed shop and does TONS of LS stuff. It only made sense to "get with the times".

I would have done a before and after, but when I had my car tuned the first time it was on a dyno at a shop that is no longer in business. Since then I developed a strange false knock retard that I spend a bunch of time trying to figure out only to come up empty handed and just left it alone. Motor mounts, fuel grade, exhaust clearance, new knock sensor, different knock module etc etc. Nothing fixed it. I'm talking instant 10* knock retard at about 4k rpm in 4th gear dyne pull.

So I would't have been able to get a useful before pull on the new shop dyno. It would have shown a huge 15hp dip at 4k rpm. I do have the dyno graph of when it was tuned 2-3 years ago and it was a clean pull. That dyno read 311/340 on a Dynojet.

Friend of mine (tuner) mentioned his dyno shows about 6% less than the previous shop (one that went out of business that he did tunes on). He has tuned multiple cars on in old shop and this new shop. So my car follows suit with results.

Numbers aside, I'm happy the false knock is gone, the coil packs proved to be "good", and first time making custom length spark plug wires worked out.

 

An opti that has a heavy duty rotor installed and loctite on the rotor screws can handle ALOT.. But yes for the ease of tuning you did right by swapping.. If my tuner ever goes out of business I'm screwed lol.. I've been thinking of making the swap but just don't really have a reason to at the moment..

 

Never opened my stock 75k mi opti, never had an issue with it but STILL wanted to swap. Mainly for more RPM and tuning versatility. The false knock also drove me nuts

 

I wasnt meaning to sound condescending or make your experience out to be any less then it was. I'm neither for nor against an Opti or COP. It really depends on what the owner is looking for mod and tun-ability wise. I just want to see as many persons real world experience and view on the the Opti vs COP situation with the LT1's and I really mean a Non Biased Opinion. Thank you for your post I give you a thumbs ups.

 

Five and a half years later I FINALLY decided to get a kit lol. Going to put it on my 383 that’s been sitting on the engine stand for 5 years lol

 

Best thing I did was buy the Torqhead kit. The quality is top notch and it's such a simple system to install and setup.