pianoguy

Excellent write-up, man!

Wathen1955

These how-to's are excellent with all the pics. Nice job!

Shanlor25

Great write up! I have an oil leak up front and have been looking for a confidence builder to take on the job. You made the project look manageable. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

larry00

The Impala Superstore Link I put in my earlier post has pics and methods and the homemade tool to install new seals to stop pesky oil leaks.
Newer models are basically the same except for the vacuum lines to the OPTI from the TB and Air intake.
The Harmonic Balancer differs from early to late but most are as he described.
If you find you have to remove it on some models you have to remove the motor-mount bolts and lift the engine up a couple inches.
I have not found one that had to be removed yet but I have heard there is one.

No difference in the cars or engines but a different type Balancer was used on some.

K.C.E.

Thanks for taking the time and energy to post this. I know a lot of people appreciate it. I have a '94 with 70,000 and am collecting information like this and keep it in a notebook for a rainy day. I assume the '94 will be very similar if not the same. I was encouraged to hear you got so many miles out of the original opti spark and I assume water pump also.

Bob2.0

Great job. I just replaced the waterpump and opti on my 94. Sure would have been easier if I'd have seen your thread first!

kimmer

this needs to be a stickey!

miltsc6

Good show old boy, keep up the good work. Can't wait until you post part 2.

MK 82

I love it when folks quote three pages of photos and make a 3 line post!!

PLRX

Good job and nice write up!!

Dont miss the 92 opti, its a PITA to align

blizzam

did the electric water pump change the routing of the belt? was it too long? im curious how that played out!

MK 82

The LTx water pump is gear driven.

Black94LT1

Excellent write up and pictures, way better than even the FSM. As luck would have it, my car sputtered today when I went to gas it up for winter storage. I see a water pump and opti replacement over the winter months! This will help me a lot. I guess it isn't that bad of timing as I was planning for plugs and wires anyway, so I might as well do it all at once.

I do have one question, how do you ensure that the new opti is clocked correctly? Does the opti self align, i.e. no concerns over top dead center piston 1? I'd hate to get everything back together only to find out I have the timing off.

gaeecho9r

tblt44

Black 94LT!1
In his write up he shows that the shaft only installs one way

aboatguy

95-96 vette opti is different...its driven by a dowel...however, you'd have to try hard to install it out of time.

LBYRNES

Wonderful!!

Very good photos. If they only wrote the manuals this well.

MMOCguy

I agree with all of the others - Thanks for such a great job. I'm definitely going to archive the pix for future reference when I do my '93.

I am definitely interested in seeing part#2. Can't wait.

As was said previously, this needs to be a sticky.

Norm.

Black94LT1

Thank you, I will have to go back and reread it!

dogfish246

Awesome Write-up! I bookmarked it and will use it as a reference for the future!!!!!