Hey everyone I'm leaving tomorrow morning (10/21) for a 2k road trip and I was planning on driving my 96 but as time gets closer I'm not sure . My car is a 96 with 38k on the clock that is maintained and unmodified , my main concern is I'm still running the original opti . I realize an opti can quit at anytime but the thought of getting hosed by Goober's garage along the roadside just doesn't sit well with me . Utimately this is my decision but I'd still like to hear some thoughts / opinions .

 

Drive it. You'll regret it if you don't. Last year I took a 97k mile, 50 year old, 1970 SS396 Nova on the Hot Rod Power Tour. Had to pay waaay too much for a voltge regulator on my way there. It makes for a good stroy now. It's all part fo the adventure.

 

The original opti is the best one. Have you replaced your water pump ever? If not, I would replace that. OEM optis fail due to poor upkeep practices, not the opti itself.

 

To live life always waiting for perfect conditions is a waste. Drive the car, it needs the mileage. Machinery is built to be used, not to sit and get arthritis and degenerate.

 

Sold my wife's '95 after the Optispark left her stranded in the middle of a left turn.

After 5 years and 30K miles, I'm on the 3rd Optispark in my '96. Common wisdom suggests the water pump will take it out. That old saw has not aligned with my experience. The main drive bearing cover directly over the OEM opticrap failed, dumping coolant on it until the LOW COOLANT warning lit up. We're talking a butt-load of coolant. Car started and ran fine for days that way. The warning light was my first and only indication of trouble.

But when the Opti goes, it's gone. Drive to work in the morning, ride home with the tow driver at night. Stop for groceries on the way home, get the warm groceries home in the cab with the tow driver.

And now, with Covid, you can no longer ride with the tow driver. Call Uber too.

I bought the highly touted $350 Petris Optispark as my first replacement. It failed in 18 months. Last month I passed the two-year mark with a $99 AIP Optispark. Every time I turn the key, I cringe.

When it fails, I will go back with a new cap/rotor on the OEM that I removed 4 years ago. And it will still never wander out of AAA towing range. Fortunately for me, that includes a lot of really nice mountain roads. Tail of the Dragon is a day trip.

In the end, it comes down to acceptable risk. It's a bit like going into a dark room with a bunch of people, and there's a black mamba somewhere in the room. It's not going to bite everyone, but it is definitely going to bite someone. You won't know who until it happens. Do you feel lucky?

I've been bitten too often.

 

Drive it.

I have had 8 cars with LT1/LT4 with optispark. None of them failed. My Z28 had the water pump dump all over it and no failure. Four of the cars were over 125k mileage and no failure.

Although there is a slight chance of breakdown, there is a chance of breakdown with any car you take. My only breakdowns were in other cars. One motor broke, one transmission broke, one overheated, one lost a tensioner pulley, several tires, etc.

The '95/'96 cars have a vented opti that seems to be more reliable than the earlier ones.

I took over 1000 mile trips in both my '95 and my '96 last year with no issues.

These are fun cars to take a road trip in. You are missing something if you don't take a trip like that in your Corvette.

In short, the chances of failure are low, the experience of a Corvette trip is a lot of fun.

 

Last year i took a trip over 2k miles on route 66 to Santa Monica, CA in my 93 ruby with 48k miles on it. I had a brake light problem on the first day but nothing after that. It was a great trip. And when conditions permit I plan to finish the entire route, Chicago to Springfield Mo. I posed the Opti Spark question a while back on this forum (https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ip-option.html) and for me, the best solution was to make a purchase at Advance Auto, et al and then maybe have Goober install it, or DIY.
This weekend I plan on doing the Tail of the Dragon and Cherahala Skyway. Drive them or sell them.

 

Go buy AAA 200 mile towing deal....worry less....or get rid of your opti equipped vette

 

Drive it. Especially with so few miles on the car, and the actively-vented second-gen opti on your '96, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment.

Live well,

SJW

 

DRIVE IT! I had a 95 ImpalaSS (LT1) daily driver...drove that thing everywhere and in every weather condition on the original opti (changed the cap and rotor once during a tune-up). It had over 200K miles on it when I sold it.

 

Well said.


I sent my wife to Michigan, from Utah, when she had a family emergency, in my well maintained,150k mile '92. Car performed flawlessly.

 

Take the chance and have a blast. My son and I often take long weekend trips in the 95. I make sure I never get too low on fuel, always have a little cash and keep my roadside assistance card and my Uber App handy just in case. Honestly, I would be more than fine if the car left us stranded 500 miles from home. It would be an adventure and a great story for the grandkids.

 

I wanted to check in and thank everyone for their responses . The Corvette is loaded and ready to go and I'll report back as often as I can . We've had heavy rain over night and still some thunder storms in the area so hopefully this will be the worst of the weather on my trip . Bye the way I'm leaving the Indy area and heading to DFW .

 

 

Awesome. Looking forward to the updates.

 

Enjoy - I think you made the right call. Envious!

 

There is no doubt you made the right decision.

When long road trips are made so are memories and these things, these machines start to take on human traits. You'll get to know what speed it smooths out on, how to cold start it and warm it up, what annoys you and what doesn't.

You can never know what a car is like by staring at it in your garage or driveway while it rots.

 

This!!If you own an older car having that card is a must!

Pick any year corvette youll find plenty who echo your sentiments. Heard a few old timers tell me yrs ago they rarely drive them cause "they know".

 

I stopped for the night just outside Little Rock the car ran flawless (knock on wood) and according to my dash info I’m getting nearly 21 mpg. I should be at my brothers later today. More to come

 

Hey everyone I got home late last night , I drove straight through due to weather concerns . I have to say I'm really impressed with how good of a road car the C4 is , I never got fatigued with driving and I think that was due in part to the fact the car didn't labor when you pushed the throttle when you wanted to move out of a tight situation . In my entire trip I only saw one of each of these cars , C8 , C7 , C5 , C2 of course the weather turned wet which makes this understandable . The LED headlights I installed for the trip were amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone that hasn't done this conversion . Now its time for a major wash wax and detail .