| Re: Optispark thoughts |
Subject: Re: Optispark thoughts by BillH on 2016/3/26 14:58:25 Well, if it was my car, wait, it is my car. Having gone thru this more than once and being in the middle of it again: I would take an extremely close look at the rear leak, clean it up and determine IF the rear seal is leaking and how bad. The seal is a one piece and the trans or engine has to be pulled to replace it. If it's a couple drips per week, I wouldn't spend the money. The front seals and pan gasket can be changed without pulling the engine but, the front of the engine may need to be jacked up some depending on where the factory located the front brake crossover line which can interfere with pulling the pan. The front cover seals - ASK your guy if he's pulled the crankshaft hub on an LT1 before, there's a procedure using a long bolt that HAS to be used, a regular puller will not work and could damage the hub. (Procedure available on line) And installing the front cover with the new seals takes a tool to protect one of the seals as you install the cover. I have the Kent-Moore tool but one can be made (again, thee how to is available on line). Opti: Yea, check the cap & rotor BUT that's just maintainence, NOT what you should be looking at to make a decision. You need to look VERY CAREFULLY at the bearing, look for any dark brown material (rust) thrown out of that bearing. There will be black (lube) thrown out to the outside but, that's OK. The rust would not be OK. And check the optical disc for any marks , it should also be perfectly flat with no waves. I wouldn't replace it if this looks good. As Matt said, 150,000, yea, it's possible. And changing the opti is a 3 1/2 -4 hour job, not that hard. The water pump is a $200 item, run it until it leaks, new gaskets to install are $3. I would however JB weld a plastic 90 degree fitting into the weep hole, and a small hose running over the opti so that a leak there won't get the opit wet. Optis: My $505 MSD lasted only 20k miles. I bought a less expensive APR, it was bad right out of the box, throws a code but runs. The GM (AC Delco) ? depends on the price but I seriously doubt that you'll find an NOS, most are referbs. Summit has the Delco for $466. My next one will be from here: http://petrisenterprises.com/optispark-distributor/ It's up to you on pulling the motor but it's a lot of money to spend on an $8,000 car. If I was to spend the money on pulling the motor and planed to keep the car, I'd have the motor rebuilt while I was at it. JMO |
