ok, so I`m slow, but I finally got life out of the way and finished putting in the new opti I bought from you.Good news is, the car runs great! I also installed new plugs,NGK TR6 gapped at .035 (the car is supercharged), I installed the electric water pump,Mezier HD unit, new Taylor 10.4MM plug wires, and an MSD coil. The car seems to be running very well. I`m going to get it tuned on a dyno at a place that was recommended elsewhere in this forum, and that will be it for a while.

 

Before I begin, I want to preface i am an avid reader and try to contribute both financially and knowledge and lack of in forms of questions to this forum, I would not trade the resources I have gotten the members or the wealth of knowledge this has brought me and others,

Yesterday I bought another LT! 94 blind sale. Price was great, a friend drove it, reported what was wrong etc.. I diagnosed it was a few sensors, possible need of computer flash but a NEW CAP AND ROTER for sure or possibly an entire opti spark non vented.

when I took apart the front end, picts wil will coming I found the original 17 yr old opti spark with factory rotor and cap. that was a first considering the persons who have owned it prior, not like them to leave such an important part un attented even tho it did not OUTRIGHT AND VISIBILY POSE ANY PROBLEM NOR NEEED FOR MANDATORY ATTENTION. we have learned that the best maintanance is preventative so shocked was un understatement when i saw a 17 yr old opti from 1993-1994. pressing on.

What realy urged me to write about this was after reading almost every posr, article in our forum as well as smoking vet and being a guest at the corvette convention and speaking with on of the original engineers who helped in the design of opti and his feeling on opti 2. Then with luck i spoke to the VP of advanced auto parts and gave him a big piece of my mind on how many vette owners are out here and how the opti is and has been a point of contention in using, up grading, maintaining, expenses involved and how the computers are not wrong but misleading to those who are in the parts department and have lack of knowledge on the opti. the cause for expensive losses due to mis info on the purchase and advice on the install and lack of. that the computeres should explain that in 1994 the early years of production the bridge of the engine designed changed in later 94 but all 95-96 years.

the oriinal 17 yr old opti spark worked fine with out ANY SERVICE FOR 89000MI, RACE TRACK RUNS, 6 MONTHES OF A CHILDS ABUSE AND A NORTERN (BOSTON MASS HOME We need not say more of what environmental damages are inherent. I will post pics of the original but here's a description of what it looked like when uncovered.
rotor was white, (first time i have seen a white one) the spin was missing some bearing causing it to spin in a wharped faction=oil splatter which could get expensive paying someone to find an oil leak that they might never find, this is the case in my new one the owner confirmed everything that i suspected, I wrote GM and ac delco to tell them after approx 17 yrs, elements of mamma nature, owner care to apoint, and all the pertinant factors that the oem from back then help up so well that i will send it to them as proof. i recieved an email saying they recieved m letter and will be in touch because of the opti spark chitter chatter, split teams, etc, this is the first customer who has documented a brought to our attention that even before the opti was pulled it still was driveable and may use it in some way. I MADE SURE THEY KNEW IF IT WASN'T FOR MY FELLOW CORVETTE ENTHUSIAST IN THE FORUM I NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS EDUCATED AND THIS INVOLVED TO HELP MY FELLOW OWNERS.

 

Also if you want to change the water pump... advance auto parts have a lifetime warranty unit.

 

Just replaced my Opti with one from Chandler last Tuesday. So far so good! Seems to idle a bit smoother. Very happy with my purchase so far.

I did tap the weep hole of the water pump and run a hose to prevent any leakage on the new optispark. I will report back if anything happens.

Thanks Nick!

Patrick

 

I have had the cap off four opti's lately. They had diferrent types of gaskets, one had cork which failed. one gasket was actually two pieces and they didn't fit well. The last one was some kind of white foam plastic. Its ok for now.

I also took about a 1/4 in rollpin and drove it into the weep hole on the water pump and clamped a small hose onto it and ran it over near the lower radiator hose. If it leaks there it won't hurt abything.

 

By the way the opti caps that have the aluminum pins corode much faster than the brass pins. This will affect performance easily.

 

Doing an Opti Replacement right now, and found that the Opti's vent tube had gotten torn off right by the distributor. Looks like I pulled it too hard to wrap it around something and the hose just stretched loose over time and rotted open. The Opti's case would have just been sucking pure engine grime down there into itself like a big vacuum cleaner.

Once I unbolted the Opti from the car, I shook it and heard shattered pieces rattling inside. No wonder the car died on me at full throttle; the gunked up rotor shattered when trying to spin up that fast.


Now I've replaced that vacuum hose with a longer, stronger one; hopefully won't happen again. I'm also re-sealing my intake manifold, since I discovered it was only finger tight and leaking oil down the front onto the Opti, which surely didn't help what with the Opti's vacuum line sucking everything nearby in.


The big lesson here? Don't stretch those vent hoses. Learning the hard way as we speak.

 

Ordered my Chandler Opti spark and received it in a few days. Unit looked like a quality piece of equipment. After a few hours of fun I had the old one off and the new one on. Turns out it the Opti wasn't my problem. Put on a new Ignition Control Module and she fired right up. Car does seem to run better with the new Opti, the old cap was fried so the new one is much better. I now have a spare.

Thanks Chandler for a great product at a reasonable price.