Well, what do they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men?
I got the car in the shop Saturday morning, about 9:00. Began work soon after...
The clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel install wen t well enough. Had a little problem getting out the pilot bearing (used the grease trick), but once out, the new bronze bushing went in easy enough. The inner diameter of the aluminum flywheel was a bit snug on the crank, but a little emory cloth paper did the trick.
Now the problems. first off, my two mechanic buddies wired the starter wrong. In addition to the large black wire, and the purple ignition wire, they hooked up a small black wire. Well, this caused the brand new starter to fry. It was only after I put the old starter back in did I question their wiring skills. I told them I though the third wire was supposed to go to ground, and sure enough, once we did that, the car starter. Duh...
Anyway, once started, it was pretty obvious the timing was off. After trying to diagnose the issue, all signs pointed to the Opti. I thought I was smart trying to reuse the old Opti., as it was fine. That was before I replaced the cap and rotor. It seems I tweaked the optical wheel and it was dragging 180 degrees on the sensors. I'm pretty sure I had the dowel pin lined up right, so I'm thinking the dragging on the optics was the cause of the problem.
Anyway, we quit at 9:30 PM, and I'm
on a new Opti.
BTW - I bought one from an outfit in Florida called TPI Parts. They have set up a Canadian outfit to build "OEM"-like Opti's. I questioned them on the quality and they knew right away why I was asking. They said they are not the Chinese junk some ebay sellers are selling. Their units are as good if not better than AC-Delco, which they state no longer makes these. I told them about "thepartsladi" and they knew right away who I was talking about. The said that vendor's Opti's were as good as theirs. For proof, they told me that they've sold well over 100 in the last two years, and have only had two come back. They offer a lifetime warranty as well.
For $200 (these are new, not rebuilt) it's worth a shot. I was surprised how knowledgeable this guy (Angel) was on the subject. He even offered me that in his opinion, the MSD is better, but wondered if the price was worth it. I agreed...$550 is quite a bit more than $200..
Stay tuned for more...hope to get back on the car this weekend.
I got the car in the shop Saturday morning, about 9:00. Began work soon after...
The clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel install wen t well enough. Had a little problem getting out the pilot bearing (used the grease trick), but once out, the new bronze bushing went in easy enough. The inner diameter of the aluminum flywheel was a bit snug on the crank, but a little emory cloth paper did the trick.
Now the problems. first off, my two mechanic buddies wired the starter wrong. In addition to the large black wire, and the purple ignition wire, they hooked up a small black wire. Well, this caused the brand new starter to fry. It was only after I put the old starter back in did I question their wiring skills. I told them I though the third wire was supposed to go to ground, and sure enough, once we did that, the car starter. Duh...
Anyway, once started, it was pretty obvious the timing was off. After trying to diagnose the issue, all signs pointed to the Opti. I thought I was smart trying to reuse the old Opti., as it was fine. That was before I replaced the cap and rotor. It seems I tweaked the optical wheel and it was dragging 180 degrees on the sensors. I'm pretty sure I had the dowel pin lined up right, so I'm thinking the dragging on the optics was the cause of the problem.
Anyway, we quit at 9:30 PM, and I'm
on a new Opti.BTW - I bought one from an outfit in Florida called TPI Parts. They have set up a Canadian outfit to build "OEM"-like Opti's. I questioned them on the quality and they knew right away why I was asking. They said they are not the Chinese junk some ebay sellers are selling. Their units are as good if not better than AC-Delco, which they state no longer makes these. I told them about "thepartsladi" and they knew right away who I was talking about. The said that vendor's Opti's were as good as theirs. For proof, they told me that they've sold well over 100 in the last two years, and have only had two come back. They offer a lifetime warranty as well.
For $200 (these are new, not rebuilt) it's worth a shot. I was surprised how knowledgeable this guy (Angel) was on the subject. He even offered me that in his opinion, the MSD is better, but wondered if the price was worth it. I agreed...$550 is quite a bit more than $200..
Stay tuned for more...hope to get back on the car this weekend.
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