Hi Mike C4. His car you can put the OPTI SPark Shaft in in any way you want. THe Shaft is Continious GEARS at each end. There is no keying. You can put the shaft in in any way you want both on the Cam and on the Opti Spark. We did look at the old Opti Spark unit and we did see the missing cog in the unit. But the Shaft we had no matching missing Cog, it was continious and did not care where it is installed.

That is what is confusing us. Many of these notes say it can only go in one way, but what we have in our hands from the car is very different.

 

Just wondering how many shafts you have. You should have the old one that you removed. And the new opti should have come with a new shaft also. If you have 2, are they the same and which one are you using.

I know this is probably the dumbest thing I could say and don’t mean to insult you or any one but, and I don’t even know if it is possible, but do you have the correct opti for the year of the car. Is there some way you can have a wrong part? (just makes me wonder, but I can't beleive you don't have the right part).

 

The gear sticking out of the opti, it has continuous splines all around it. If you carefully inspect those splines, one of them is missing. If you look into the cam, it will have a hole with splines broached into it. This hole accepts the gear drive from the opti.

That hole is also missing a spline. The missing spline must go in the correct slot on the cam. That is how the opti is timed to the engine.

Because the system is set up with only a missing spline instead of a conventional key way, they unit will install when not properly timed. However, it will not sit flush against the engine. It will seem to install properly, but hang off the engine about 1/8 of an inch. Most people start the bolts and use the bolts to pull the opti on the last 1/8 of an inch, this takes very little force and feels correct while you do it.

What is happening is that the missing spline on the opti gear drive is being engaged with a spline in the cam hole. Nothing happens, there is no interference until you get almost all the way on with the opti, then the spline in the cam hole runs out of missing spline on the opti and starts to push on the gear drive. If you tighten down the opti with the bolts, you push the gear drive into the opti and could damage the wheel, rotor, cap, or encoder.

Take it apart and look at the gear. It has an index via missing tooth, as does the cam.

 

If your splined shaft does NOT have a "key" at both ends, then all bets are off on ever getting your car timed. The "keys" are not super easy to spot, but they are there. The 2 keys(opti end and cam end) are also lined up as seen in the following pic:

 

Maybe you do have an OMNI spark !!


"The word omni is derived from the word omnis which is of Latin origin. In the English language omni is a prefix which means 'all'. "

 

Corvette LT1/LT4 opti:
'92 and '93 were the same. The '94 was almost the same but it was vented to the atmosphere via three holes in the bottom. Those first three years interchange. The '95 and '96 use a different style gear drive and are vented to two different pressure regions of the intake creating a flow of intake air through them. All B-body cars got the same opti as the Corvette MY '95&'96 (even the '94 B-body has the newer style) I've no knowledge of what the F bodies got.

So, yes. It is possible to have the wrong part but it would really be a poor fit.

 

Thanks to all we got it! We could of never done this without the help that was provided her.

God Bless, Rick

 

Tanks to all for all your help. We could of not done this without all of your help.