I sent this to MSD.

"I just bought a 95-97 MSD Optispark and I am pleased with the quality of the product. I have two problems though. One of the screws that hold the cap on the distributor was stripped out. I went to Lowes and replace all of the outside screws with allen bolts. That was less than a $2.00 and was not a problem at all. My thought on this is that when the radiator is on the car, space is tight and a screwdriver is not the easiest tool to work with. Also the O-ring was very, very hard to get on the distributor. Everytime I stretched it out and slid it over the lip, it would slip off. I finally got it to stay with it off of the car. I could not see getting the O-ring to stay on while the distributor was on the car as the instructions say. I think a machined groove on the aluminum lip would help the O-ring stay in place during installation."




The Opti is a nice piece and seems to be built a tougher than the factory unit. The wires are sealed coming out of housing and the cap is sealed to the housing by an O-ring. The machined housing is thicker than the stock unit. My car cranked right up after installing it. Next weekend I will drive it around.

 

Instead of using a screwdriver which was hard as you say, could you just have used a bit inside a small socket to make it easy? Just wondering..

 

So when will people realize a cap and rotor is NOT an opti??

Besides why would you try to do it on the car? three more bolts and it is on the bench where you can see what the heck you are doing

 

yeah when I did a cap and rotor back in Dec. I pulled it right off the car, little easier to work on then. Hopefully his opti looked nice, I should have known mine was going to die after what I saw inside.

 

He did get a whole opti...

 

My mistake.

The question then is why did he take it apart? Stripped screws? Mine came assembled and ready to install I must admit seeing how I did not need to take it apart the screws were not stripped

I have now installed six of the cap and rotor kit's and there is no way I would even try on the car. I have one of the MSD opti's sitting on my desk ready to go for testing

 

Yeah, that friggin "O ring" is a pain in the ***....

 

Yes I got the whole meal deal, not just the cap. The instructions that came in the box say install the opti with the cap off so you can make sure the position of the rotor is right. It also says take the old cap off so you know the rotor position, they even give you a torx screw with a nut, to romove the stock cap.

I don't know about how your MSD opti came, but the O-ring was in the box when I got mine. You have to take it apart to put the O-ring in it, but that is optional.