THE INFAMOUS OPTI INSTALL


-You will start with disconnecting your negative battery terminal.

-Then remove all the intake tubing, elbow, maf, etc.



-Then remove your ICM bracket along with the coil (they are connected as one) which is held by two nuts/bolts [14 or 15mm] along with the ground wires). Ofcourse, unplug all of the connections going to the coil and ICM prior to removing them.

[red dots indicate the two bolts and blue dots indicate plugs/straps that need to be removed]



-Drain coolant from drain plug located at the bottom of the radiator.

-Remove all hoses connected to the water pump and kinda push them aside. Now is where the fun starts.

-Remove the water pump by removing the 6 bolts (9/16 deep socket). Driver side should take a few minutes to get the 3 bolts out, and the passenger side should take longer. One of the bolts on the passenger side in right behind the AC pump pulley, so in order to get it out, you will need a swivel-head to get in there,and by removing the belt (takes likes 1 minute), it would be a hell of a lot easier to get to. You may have to get underneathe the car for some of this stuff (removing 2 of the water pump bolts, removing the belt, etc.). When you get the water pump off, make sure you don't lose the sleeve that connects the drive gear from the water pump to the drive gear on the cam. The connector will be on either side, just don't lose it. Now comes the opti.




-First you will have to remove the balancer (crank pulley-[3] 5/8 bolts) using a puller that you can buy from advanced auto parts for like $30 and return it for a full refund when you're done.



-Once you remove the pulley, it's pretty straight forward. If you have a vented opti, remove the two hoses going to the opti, then disconnect the optical plug very carefully so you don't snap the clip (GM gets expensive with stupid little plugs like that).

-Once you do that, label all of your spark plug wires (using duct tape or somethething), remove them from the opti and begin removing the (3) 10mm bolts.




-If you have a 93-94 it should be just a gear on the back of the opti with a little notch. If that's the case, make sure you line up that notch with the notch inside the timing chain cover.

-If it's a 95+ car/opti, the cam dowel has to be lined up with the oval on the opti

-Connect vacuume lines, optical plug, wires, and put everything back on.

-Now do everything you just did backwards and put it all back together (Don't forget to scrape off the old gasket off of the water pump housing). Make sure you put RTV sealant on the water pump gaskets (to stick onto the pump) and also apply it on the water pump bolts)

-install water pump (bolts should be torqued at 31 ft/lbs) and connect all hoses.




-Install the Harmonic balancer (bolts should be torqued to 75 ft/lbs) and put the belt back on

-make sure you connect all the ground wires/straps when installing the ICM/coil bracket on to the head.

-Fill cooling system using your preffered coolant (I use skraight distilled water with a bottle of water wetter and water pump lubricant - runs a bit below 180 for me), and DONT FORGET TO BLEED THE SYSTEM via the two bleeder screws

It's a hell of a lot easier than said. Should take up a good part of your day, depending on your pace and patience lol. Good luck!

p.s thanks to 94m6Z28 and Green3spd for providing pics (oh and myself )

 

pictures will get you a sticky post sir.

 

You might want to put this into bullet points, it would be easier to read.

 

this should be on the back of every LT1 pink slip.haha

 

I'm doing the opti during spring break. I'll take pics and lable everything

 

if anyone wants to add more info/give more specific info on bolt/socket sizes, etc, PM me and I'll add it in there

 

I would probably drain some coolant before disconnecting the associated hoses & removing the water pump.

 

Great write up, helped a ton

 

It only took me about 15 mins to take my opti off the other day in my impala when I put it back should take me like 30s if I didn't loose any bolts lol.

 

It's a lot easier in an Impala.. but even then, I don't know man. That sounds pretty unreal but hey if its true, congrats! (= It still takes me 2 hours or so but then again im a n00b

 

hey everything takes long the 1st time it took me like 4 hours changing it the 1st time.

 

Great write up! I think it is snap on who makes a torx socket that is made specifically for the Opti. the slots that they go into are really tight for the standard thick walled socket. Getting one of these ahead of time could save you some time. If your doing an early 90s vette, you shouldnt need a puller for the crank pulley. Just unbolt the bolts and use some muscle. It will come off. On those there isnt any room for a puller. I have had them apart multiple times and have gotten it down to about 1-2 hours. Pending on beverage consumption.

 

Reminds me of the first time I had sex. That took a lot longer...oh, no, it didn"t. Never mind.

 

good info.

 

Damn you, why'd you remind me that I have to change the stupid opti!!!!! I've been putting it off for a month already, I guess its time to bite the bullet. Good write-up maybe I'l take some pics today and add them to the OP so it can be stickied.

 

dont use muscles, use two prybars, one on either end

 

you don't need a special torx socket for removing the cover on the opti just take out one of the cover bolt on your tb turn it upside down hold it in a pair of vise grips and you now have the perfect size torx for removing opti bolts. I can do an f-body opti in 1hr start to finish (but have removed the damn garbage about 10times now) aslo wanna mention that even with draining the radiator when your removed the long bolts on the drivers side of the water pump alot and I do mean alot of water will come draining out of them.
One other thing that makes the swap easier is to remove the four 10mm bolts holding the passenger fan to the bracket and getting it out of the way. Makes alot of room in the front for working.
Bolt sizes harmonic balancer bolts 5/8, water pump bolts deep 9/16 and I also use a short 9/16 with a long extension no swivel for the bolt behind the ps pump. Opti bolts 10mm, fan bolts 10mm, if you remove the coil which isn't neccesary those bolts I believe are 14mm or 15mm, belt tensioner bolt on my car was a 13mm.
I just did all this today and yesterday so it is all fresh.

 

How the hell did you get the small bolt on the pass. side of the water pump? It took me like 30min to figure out how to remove it, eventually I just used a closed-end wrench to remove it 1/4 turn at a time. I also removed the tensioner for a little more access, although it wasnt necessary but Im gonna redo my wires anyways so every little bit helps.

After you get everything off, the you realize how small the LT1 is.

 

It takes the same amount of time as the rest of them.. I just used a swivel-head socket + a 9/16 deep socket (can be done with normal socket) and with the belt off. It's really easy.. I found out it takes half the time with the belt off so proceed as you wish

 

Take pics of every step and send them to me so we can get a sticky! w00t! lol.. good luck on your install.. are you converting to a vented?