Optispark: Dynaspark Questionable, MSD has the market
Remains to be seen how good their product will be.....
Billy
"We have owned this product for over a year and a half, we have been building them for 2.5 years (we built them for DTE when they owned Dynaspark.) The changes are only recent and for the better. The reason we are making these changes are so that we can be more confident with our product having a limited lifetime warranty as opposed to the previous 1 year warranty. I know the saying "if it aint broke dont fix it" but I am sure you understand the circumstances. We only have three vendors, FLP, Thunder Racing, and Fast Toys. Summit Racing will be stocking our product in August. I can assure you, our main focus is quality and being the best. If you have any questions please let us know. Eric Harris"
This makes me feel better about the product and I may hold out for one now but can't wait until August to get it. Just wanted everyone to know that there may be some time before the Dynaspark product is back available and when it does come back, it will have some modifications.
Billy
"We have owned this product for over a year and a half, we have been building them for 2.5 years (we built them for DTE when they owned Dynaspark.) The changes are only recent and for the better. The reason we are making these changes are so that we can be more confident with our product having a limited lifetime warranty as opposed to the previous 1 year warranty. I know the saying "if it aint broke dont fix it" but I am sure you understand the circumstances. We only have three vendors, FLP, Thunder Racing, and Fast Toys. Summit Racing will be stocking our product in August. I can assure you, our main focus is quality and being the best. If you have any questions please let us know. Eric Harris"
This makes me feel better about the product and I may hold out for one now but can't wait until August to get it. Just wanted everyone to know that there may be some time before the Dynaspark product is back available and when it does come back, it will have some modifications.
Billy
Needless to say, I will be having a serious talk with Eric about these false statements he's made....
Here is a history timeline of the Dynaspark Distributor Product that I engineered from the beginning:
It's no secret that the stock GM Opti-Spark Ignition Distributor has its faults and continues to have them to this very day. Until a few years ago, many LT1 tuners, owners and enthusiasts were forced to replace countless failed, O.E. ignition distributors just to stay on the road and many high performance applications that required a better ignition distributor, had no place to turn to.
Philip J. Rickard, owner and CEO of Dynotech Engineering Inc. in Fort Wayne, IN. www.dynotech-eng.com was among one of those people and after having multiple O.E. Opti-Spark ignition failures with his own 1995 C4 Corvette at the time, he decided it was time to do something about it.
For those of you that don't know~ Phil is a mechanical engineer by education and has a long career in the automotive industry in various areas of expertise. Two of the most recent, note worthy being; that he was formerly with Lingenfelter Performance Engineering until he was hired from there as a professional engine builder/crew member for an SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge C5-R Corvette Racing Team. He holds multiple ASE/GM STG Certifications in the automotive field and went on to open his own 10,000 sq./ft. high performance business in 2001, Dynotech Engineering Inc.
One of the first things that Phil & Co. did after opening was to re-engineer the fail-prone, GM Opti-Spark disrtibutor. Phil targeted 11 weakness areas of the stock, O.E. Optispark Ignition Distributor and totally re-engineered those areas with reliability and performance in mind, so that the unit would support very high engine RPM reliably, on/off the track and do so while being able to withstand the harsh environment of an engine bay that is subjected to the outside elements.
After 7 long months of development, the new distributor he designed was given the name 'Dynaspark' as an aggregate collaboration of the "Dynotech" name and the GM "Opti-Spark". Dynotech Engineering's business statement is, "Performance Through Refinement" and given the extensiveness of this new LTx distributor design, that's no stretch of the imagination.
Ironically, the new Dynaspark Distributor design was not originally intended for public sale, as Phil wanted to simply install this new distributor onto his own Corvette for his own engine reliability enjoyment- just to see if he could make it work, but this new product was too good to keep under wraps for long....
After he validated it's performance on his own car, Phil took a sample of the his new product to the 2002 Performance Racing Industry Show (PRI Show) in Indianapolis and showed it to the powers that be at MSD, Mallory and Accel. Everyone at these companies really liked the concept and was very surprised to see that such a small, new, start-up company like Dynotech Engineering Inc. (DTE) had come up with such an innovative product before they did. In fact, many of them (including Todd Ryden of MSD) wanted to take detailed pictures of Phil's new product at that very show, but Phil refused, put the sample back into his satchel and walked away. DTE returned back to the shop that December afternoon to began preperations to go into full production of the aftermarket industry's first, major re-design of the LTx distributor for 2003- The Dynaspark Ignition Distributor.
DTE began producing this new product line in January of 2003 and Phil & Co. initially designed two versions of the Dynaspark Distributor to cover both models- the Gen I and the Gen II, which could be found on Corvettes, F-Body cars, B-body cars and so on. Another third design was also created- the Gen III, that completely eliminated the high voltage side of the ignition distributor and was specifically engineered to support other CNP ignition systems that were creeping their way into the aftermarket at that time. The Gen III design was designed, blueprinted and validated, but was never put into production at that time....until later.
DTE engineered, produced, marketed and sold the Dynaspark Ignition Distributor product line for 3 full years to multiple dealers and end users all-across the USA, including a few dealers overseas. The product line was a *HUGE* success from it's inception that was covered in many trade magazines, hosted on many online websites and was raced heavily in NHRA Stock Eliminator Drag Racing Classes. In fact, DTE was the absolute *FIRST* company to offer such a product, that larger companies like MSD and Accel are only just recently began bringing/copying to market after all this time....over *3 YEARS* AFTER DTE debuted their aftermarket LTx Dynaspark Ignition Distributor Product in early 2003!
DTE was proud to be the first to raise the bar that others followed under and sales were booming!
As DTE grew in size over the years and the company began gaining positive recognition in the Corvette Community with their performance Corvette-specific packages, Corvette IRS drivetrain innovations/products, etc., Phil felt it was time to either shelf the Dynaspark Dist. production for good to make room for other new projects on the horizon or offer to sell the entire product line to another outside company that wanted to take over the reigns where DTE left off. Dynotech Engineering Inc. was just getting far to busy to handle everything on their plate that was going on at the time~ Dynaspark Distributors notwithstanding.
Phil then met with Eric and Zach of Fort Wayne, IN. who was interested in taking over the Dynaspark Distributor product line and a deal was struck in 2006. Phil personally trained both Eric and Zach on how to build these distributors for high performance use in a production-line format, while still maintaining very high build quality through hand-building techniques and mentored them by passing on his engineering knowledge of the product line in it's entirety, the causes for ignition distributor failures with the LTx engine platform, reasons why the unit was designed and engineered like it was, etc., etc., etc. Soon the new owners went into successful business for themselves and dubbed their business name as "Dynaspark", in reflection of the product line.
As of 2006, DTE sold the entire product line and rights Eric & Zach at Dynaspark.net, www.dynaspark.net for which they continue to build very high quality, performance LTx ignition distributors as DTE previously did before them and the Dynaspark Distributor will still remain as the industry's first, major re-designing of the GM Opti-Spark ignition distributor.
Dynaspark- First aftermarket design of it's type in the industry.
I sincerely hope they are doing the product line well that I worked so hard to develop in the first place. It would be a sad thing to see them run this already successful product line in the ground since they took over... Time will tell I guess.
Best Regards,
Philip J. Rickard
President/CEO
Dynotech Engineering Inc.
Needless to say, I will be having a serious talk with Eric about these false statements he's made....
Here is a history timeline of the Dynaspark Distributor Product that I engineered from the beginning:
We handed them the keys to this successful business venture on a platter with it already up and running, business contacts, blueprints, training, established dealers, supplier contacts, customer base, racing sponsorship contracts in place, advertising, etc. and all they had to do was simply continue to manufacturer the product where we left off.
I sincerely hope they are doing the product line well that I worked so hard to develop in the first place. It would be a sad thing to see them run this already successful product line in the ground since they took over... Time will tell I guess.
Best Regards,
Philip J. Rickard
President/CEO
Dynotech Engineering Inc.
Billy

However, I will set Eric and Zach straight on a few things... I personally trained them on the design, manufacturing and inner-workings of the Dynaspark Distributor product line approx. 1.5 years ago, for which they still call here from time-to-time requesting engineering advice of the product.
No one knows the product better than I, as I engineered it from scratch from the beginning in the first place....
I will take care of things with those two.
Best Regards,
Philip J. Rickard
President/CEO
Dynotech Engineering Inc.
Billy
Last edited by wilsonbh; May 10, 2007 at 05:37 AM.
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts


I just talked to the MSD tech rep. He said that some '92 plugs will not match the MSD plug and I will have to cut off the plugs and hard wire the MSD to the '92 harness. I have no choice at this point but I suggested to him that MSD should cover this in their Installation instructions and have a pigtail plug adapter available. For a $500 unit, to supply a pigtail plug to a few customers at no extra charge should not be a big deal. I hope that I never have to unwire the distributor since there will be no plugs now.
I, at no time, had to cut any wiring -- I simply pushed the pins out of the old connectors and put them in the new connector.
I now have a complete change-over to the later Opti-Spark -- including all connectors.
Tom Piper

However, I will set Eric and Zach straight on a few things... I personally trained them on the design, manufacturing and inner-workings of the Dynaspark Distributor product line approx. 1.5 years ago, for which they still call here from time-to-time requesting engineering advice of the product.
No one knows the product better than I, as I engineered it from scratch from the beginning in the first place....
I will take care of things with those two.
Best Regards,
Philip J. Rickard
President/CEO
Dynotech Engineering Inc.
Billy
On every other LTx forum I visit, the MSD has shown many failures and is generally recommended to avoid, while there has been no increase in failure reports for the Dynaspark since it changed hands.
Did you ask Dynaspark about current lead time? Last post I saw on the subject said they were running a couple weeks lead time because of a big uptick in orders this Spring.
Last edited by VenkmanP; May 10, 2007 at 12:50 PM.
(brand new 8.5 mm wires that spark arc'd against the water pump housing and 3 MSD Digital 6 plus boxes that failed within 5 days of installation) ,
I guess that means Ill just go to another GM vented opti next time my opti croaks.
It seemed like a lot of people here were happy with the Dynaspark product (if they could get it).
MSD's = garbage.
BTW..most MSD "failures" I've run across can be traced to improper installations by DIY'ers. Not flaming, that's just been my experience.
Last edited by edcmat-l1; May 10, 2007 at 04:56 PM.
Billy















