Sleazy Rider

First a little back ground on what I am doing. The kid and I bought this 94 basket case that we are building and one of the enhancements is replacing the opti with a 95-96 vented opti. the problem I am running into is attaching the opti to the timing cover, as can be seen in the photo below. there is about an 1/8" space between the tab on the opti and the bolt hole face of the cover. it appears to me there may be a bracket to hold the wiring harness for the pickup sandwiched here, but without a fsm, I have no idea. anyone have a picture of this area and maybe a thickness of this bracket? that maybe I can get a spacer of the correct thickness? thanks for any helpful response.

Silver96ce

It looks like you have a 1996 timing cover with the crank position sensor. Rather than going through all of that work why not just convert the original early opti and cap to vented as per this article -
http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/16758/

Sleazy Rider

I went to the cloyes roller timing chain which only fits the 95-96 covers and have all the components to switch. all I really need is the thickness of whatever goes between the opti and the cover.

DownLowD

Hey northern neighbor... I just finished replacing all of the timing cover seals on my 96. I don't remember anything between the Opti and the timing cover. I dont think I can get a pic of it in the car, but I can try if that will help.

Sleazy Rider

if you could get a shot from under the engine of the cover/plug in area that would be great. thanks.

DownLowD

I cant get a pic thats worth a darn now that the motor is set back down. I can see the bolt by looking through through by the upper control arm. There is definately nothing between the opti and the timing cover. I looked at the opti I removed from my car last year and it looks just like the one in your pic. Sorry I'm not more help.

csthews

I replaced the opti on my '95 and there isn't a gap nor is there a bracket to hold the wire. Are you sure you have the opti seated correctly on the cover?

RichS

The Opti bolts directly to the cover with no spacers.

Sleazy Rider

well, I found the culprit in this problem, the opti. I bought this one from club member who had installed it on his motor and the cap cracked so he replaced it with another new one and eventually I bought it from him knowing I would have to get a new cap and rotor. but the back of this opti is not machined to clear the crankshaft boss on the cover and there lies the interference between the 2. I noticed the difference when fc92 posted his new opti for sale with pics front and rear. thanks for the responses.

WVZR-1

I see "FC92" snapshots but maybe it would be good if yours is still in hand to post an image of the rear of yours for others to compare. You might maybe snag the one of his rear and post it side by side with the opti you've got. Whose opti do you have? What part number?

Sleazy Rider

here is a shot of the opti I bought from a club member, a supposedly new gm opti, which is why I bought it. I could not find any part number on it. there are other subtle little differences also:




now here is the opti the fc92 has for sale, notice the machined relief at the lower portion of the housing to clear the crankshaft boss: