Started to change plugs and wires on 92 LT1. Noticed a lot of corosion on #7. What does have to be done to change the distrubiter pack on these? It surounds the front of motor. Any known pictures of this? Not really a good pic in service manual. Thanks, L.Breen

 

Well, here is the deal. The Opti is under the water pump and behind the harmonic balance.
To change this unit you have to pull the fans out, remove the water pump and remove the harmonic balancer pulley.
The unit will cost you around $200 and if you are going to do this you had better change out the water pump also. When the water pump goes (it will) it will take the Opti with it. The pump will run you around $150.

 

You do not have to pull the fans out.

The harmonic balancer/pulley needs to be moved aside (albeit disconnected from the hub)

Unfortunately the early Opti's are far more than $200

The below pic shows roughly what yours will look like with the Opti removed ('95/'96 are slightly different than '92-'94)...



The next photo gives you a good idea of how the Opti is tucked in behind the waterpump as mentioned by the previous poster...

 

To have the room to do the work inside the car removing the fans is the best way.
I bought my new Opti 3 years ago from TLD for around $200 and that was for my 93

 

Great information,now I have a really great idea of how this works. I think the resale value will go up after all this. Thank you very much.
Larry Breen

 

Gotta call on this one. The fans are on the complete other side of the crossmember. None of the parts that need to be removed to swap out the Opti are even remotely close to the fans. The only bolts that are remotely challenging to get to the first time you swap the parts is for the balancer and one of the waterpump bolts (hint, loosen or remove the 4 bolts that hold the ps pump in place).

Prices have changed drastically in 3 years. From the TLD catalog...

*DISTRIBUTOR,92-94, (LT1) DELCO
Code: 612077
Price: $399.00

Superior sells them for a bit less, but still expensive.

 

When I bought my Vette back in 2000, Gen. I Optis new were $600 bones easy.

 

Having spent the last 8 days removing the opti, WP, AND the plugs and wires, let me clarify!

1) Plugs on this car are a PITA to get to, but possible.
2) Wires are routed in a very cumbersome way on the driver's side. Be ready for some cursing.
3) Removing the WP is easy. Pull the entire air intake tract. After draining the coolant, remove the six bolts that hold the WP in place.
4) Remove the Harmonic Balancer. This does NOT require you to remove the fan assembly OR the PS cooler. I found it's easir to unbolt one of the PS rack feed lines, though.
5) remove the three bolts that hold the balancer to the hub. You will need to rotate the crank 120 each time to get to each bolt as space is tight.
6) The balancer will be pretty much fused to the hub. Take a long rod (I used a jack handle), place it on the INSIDE of the hub, and give it a few heavy blows with a hammer. Eventually you will see the hub come loose.
7) Remove hub. Note the orientation as the balancer only mounts to the hub in one way (there are two raised marks on the hub and balancer to help you)
8) Remove the ignition wires as well as the two vacuum hoses from the Opti. Remove the three botls holding the opti in place.

This entire process will take you AT LEAST 8 hours if you've never done it before. I would budget an entire weekend. No joke.

 

That assumes ALL the correct tools, jack stands, lighting, garage (it will rain that weekend), and the right parts, gaskets, etc. If you break anything (I always buy 9 spark plugs) while tearing apart or re-assembling, factor that in also.

 

*DISTRIBUTOR,92-94, (LT1) DELCO
Code: 612077
Price: $399.00

Is there any difference in the Opti for an LT4 ('96) or does it use the same one as an LT1.

 

'95/'96 are different than the earlier Opti's. The later units are much cheaper as well.

Dal Slabaugh at Vandevere (sp?) sells them (as of last November) for ~$225. Rumor has it the price may have increased by $35 or so, but I haven't checked.

 

Yes, the GenII opti is vented to prevent moisture/corrosion from building up and destroying it from the inside. You can see the 2 lines in the pictures above. One line goes to vacuum fitting, the other goes to fitting on the air intake. There are kits available for converting genI to genII optis, highly recommended. Some members also recommend the dynaspark opti and say they are worth the extra money.

 

If you can hold off another day pon your project, I'm just about done with my step-by-step procedure for replacing the damper with an ATI piece. Some of the steps won't apply to you, but most will.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone for help and advice. Replaced plugs, 5 were hand tight. Had blow-by on them. Driver's side wires were thread-bare and original. All wires had actual rust on both ends. Car runs like that "ape with stripes" I hear about sometimes. So much improvement that I will wait to spend more money for later. Thanks to all. Great forum! lbreen.

 

Larry, I sent you a pm. Jim