i like knowing the outcome of people's projects thought you might like to know how this came out. took 9 hours to get it apart, would have been longer if not for the help of forum members thanks guys. you may ask why? because i'm an old man that thought vibration dampners where one piece. turns out on the lt1 this is not the case. got it off and apart what a mess. this thing was a piece of rust. the new opti was 310.00 i'm not impressed with gm at all they also had a 90.00 core charge if you didn't turn in the old one this thing was crap not worth 1 dollar let alone 90. i have know idea what they will do with the old one it didn't look rebuildable. this seems extream there again the old school kicks in. pretty straight forward after i pulled my head out of the darkness. took about 1 1/2 hours to put back together. new hoses, had already changed the waterpump about 3 weeks ago. when it first started up would not stay running held rpms up about 1200 for about 2 min settled right out. when i first bought this car thought is was really quick, wrong. with the new opti installed pulled out in front of my shop and started out, car felt different. so i turned the traction controll off and o--my. this thing left rubber in all of first gear getting sideways at the end of 1st, hit second and jumped sideways right away. was smooth all the way up to 5800. the car is a auto i had no idea it was able to do this. it was like a whole new car. thanks for all the help you guys are great. robert

I'm glad you were able to get it running right. I personally do not care for the opti-spark either. I had to change mine over the summer.

My water pump and Opti took a dump on me at Summit Point Raceway in WV this summer (and my first try at a high speed track too) - cost me $1500.00 at my local Chevy shop to get her fixed - I wish I were more handy around the engine like most of everyone here but thats what I get for being a Network computer guy.

Anyone know of a good Corvette shop in the Harrisburg, PA area??

Happy Holidays

What, are you trying to imply something about us Network "Computer guys"? :mad (Just joking)

Working on the Vette is fairly straight forward compared to my old imports. It just takes some patience and thinking. Still hate trying to get rusted parts and bolts off. I always break them.

OK - not all Network or computer geeks are foreign around the engine bay of the Vette.

This is my first REAL car (I've had a Mark VIII and two Exployers and wife has had a Lexus ES300 and now has a 2002 Benz) so I've never had a true reason to start playing under the hood. This may sound funny to most but not to me - I just learned how to change my own oil two weeks ago. Now I have a pair of jack stands, ramps and a jack on my Christmas list for Santa!!

If anyone wants to "trade" a few tricks of the trade for a few computer problems/upgrades - feel free to drop me a line!! I'm in the Harrisburg, PA area.

;)