best replacement for gm opti 95 LT1?

[LoudLT1]

doing tune up. wires + plugs and want to replace opti. its stil has the original unit. whats a good replacement.
thanks,
ed

[AJ52486]

I'm not sure what the best replacement is, but I bought a new GM opti for just over $250 including shipping. I bought it from Dal Slabaugh at lockitup@bright.net He works at a GM dealership in Akron, Ohio, and his prices and customer service are great.

[BmXRacR96]

Dont use any reman opti's, I went through about 3 in 1.5 years. Always had a random misfire, sometimes there and sometime it wasnt. Also with these you need to install your own cap and rotor kit, which should also be available to purchase..

Another option is to check out MSD's cap and rotor replacement. Jeg's sells them (www.jegs.com) and summit racing should also (www.summitracing.com). I havnt heard any reviews about MSD's version. Not sure of any advantages, But its nice and pretty red.

MSD#
93-94 8481
95-97 84811


Doug

[LoudLT1]

thanks for the info.
looking into the msd unit only cap and rotor.
eddie

[Injuneer]

My recommendations.... do NOT replace only the cap & rotor. You will be left with an 11 year old back 1/2 of the Opti, containing the optical module, and a really low quality bearing. Either of those can fail at any time.

The jury is still out on the new MSD stuff.....

On CamaroZ28.com LT1 forum, there is a running thread of a rotor failure on the new MSD cap & rotor package. The failed part was sent back to MSD for analysis, and they appear to have changed, or be changing the design.

On the same forum there is a running thread covering the failure of a brand new, complete MSD Optispark distributor.... the problem was caused by excessive deformation of the interior divider between the cap/rotor and the optical sections. It deformed enough to cause the rotor to wobble.

On the same form, there are a couple of issues with the MSD Opti's "adjustable timing" feature. Apparently the unit is not set to "0" at the factory, and there is no way to tell if the unit is set to "0", or if it is set to advance or retard the timing. No pointer or indicator, just a screw that you screw in and out.

There have been a couple reports of failures of the Summit Opti II..... possibly a repacked Accel unit.

Bottom line.... there is no PROVEN replacement for the stock Opti other than the DynaSpark (about $600).

The best bet seems to be to use only the optical sensor, and to feed a black box that can interface with a direct fire coil system. The Bailey LTCC uses 8 LS1-style coils. The Delteq uses a 4-coil waste spark setup from the Northstar engine. I've seen very few problems reported with the LTCC. But there have been a few cars where the Delteq has refused to work.

http://www.bailey-eng.com/LTCC.html

http://www.delteq.com/

[BmXRacR96]

Wow, did not know that about MSD. You would of thought all this would be thoroughly tested before sold.

Also I Second. Do not replace only the cap and rotor. Its a waste of time reusing the old distributor core. I would purchase a Delco complete unit, I purchased one for about $330 for a customer from the dealer.

Also you may want to replace the waterpump at the same time with a NEW one, if it hasnt been changed recently.

Doug

[Craig 94 TA GT]

I bought a Dynaspark a few months ago and it's running pretty good. I had a massive coolant leak right above it, but it never gave up or even "complained" due to it being vented. It's expensive as Fred mentioned, but only costs $36 to rebuild after the warranty is up - but that probably is only for a new cap & rotor.

[pandorasboyfriend]

Optispark II

So the jury is still out on the Accel Optispark II?. I'm thinking about trying it out, plus it's less than half the price for a MSD(only $200.00). If choose to go to O'reiley's auto parts and get the remanufactured($100.00 + core), then I'll just slap some permatex high temp sealer around it.

When I took my old optispark apart it was literaly 1/4 full of water. The lens was rusted and warped.