Optispark aftermarket products:Delteq & Dynaspark

[DanC]

I got the front of my 93 engine wet doing a little cleaning. I thought I was being careful but some water ran down the front of the engine behind the alternator. That's all it took. Started OK but ran like it was wet (idle cutting out, cutting out and pinging when applying throttle under load). It eventually dried out and has been fine since, but such a small amount of water has me thinking about replacing the Optispark.

As far as I know, it's original and the car has 46k on it.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with the two products I've found doing searches here and on the web?

Are there others?

With the list price of a replacement early optispark now at $600 (!!!!) it makes the Delteq LT1 OPTI-DIRECT IGNITION SYSTEMS ($667)and the DTE "DynaSpark" High Performance GM Optispark Distributor Replacement ($599) competitive.

Thanks in advance. I ALWAYS get answers on this forum. A truly great resource.

Dan
93 Ruby Red Coupe

 

[pci_raid]

Hi Dan , i just sent u an email about the dynaspark I installed. Just to reiterate it here so everyone knows how it went.
Product looks like very high quality solidly engineered unit and was very straight forward to install. I have had NO issues what so ever with the unit. I cant say the same for my vette (Bose system crapped out ) But the cars runs very well. I didn't see any performance boost , but i didn't expect one either. My hope is not to have any moisture problems anymore. I used to be afraid to drive it in the rain. Now I don't worry at all. But i still won't pressure wash the engine just to be safe.. :^)
Oh and the opti is actually a piece of cake to replace! I've done it 4 times!
Bob

 

[Jughead]

I bought one of the DTE units for my 94 coupe about six months ago and was very impressed with the engineering of the unit. First class billet body and very well sealed compared to the GM original and Corvette Central vented unit. It came with detailed instructions for installation, pig tail hook up and vent tube installation. True one stop shopping that I would buy again. I highly recommend the DynaSpark...........Good Luck !

 

[DanC]

PCI_Raid,

Bob, I have to ask...4 times??? 4 failed Optisparks? 4 failed water pumps taking out Optisparks?

What happened?

Thanks much for the advice.

 

[bossvette]

we had our Dyno run at DTE during Cruise-fest and Phil showed their unit to us, one of our members (skyguy007) ended up buying one a few weeks later
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38232&highlight=Dynaspark

the red one is the Dyno tech version

 

[Skyguy007]

I installed a DynaSpark in my 96 Grand Sport about two months ago and have had no issues with it. It's much better built than the original, but should be for alomst double the price. The instructions that came with the unit were pretty good. The key is making sure the shaft is oriented properly with the cam. It shoudl fit flush to the block when properly aligned. If you feel like you can pull it into position with the bolts, the shafts are not aligned properly and you will break something.

In my case, the water pump failed but the OptiSpark was still okay. I replaced the OptiSpark becuase it had 75,000 miles on it and I had everything out of the way and drained because of the water pump replacement. While I was at it, I also installed Magnacore 8mm blue ignition wires and new NGK plugs. The car runs great with no more coolant leaks.

 

[pci_raid]

Ya, 4 times I removed and replaced it. I didn't have 4 failures. This is my third opti. First one I killed it by pressure washing the engine( bad don't do it !) Another just died after. then I have replaced it again cause i had a ecm failure that claimed the OPti was bad, it wasn't. The ECM was ideed total crap.

it actually looks like a much worse job than it is. the hardest part to me was getting the bolts from the vibration damper out. Everything else was easy. THe only thing I highly recommend is remove the coil assembly. It's in the way for removing and installing the water pump.

I think I now have 2 good OEM opti's kicking around I'll put up on ebay.

Bob

PCI_Raid,

Bob, I have to ask...4 times??? 4 failed Optisparks? 4 failed water pumps taking out Optisparks?

What happened?

Thanks much for the advice.

 

[Skyguy007]

Thanks for the e-bay idea. Who knows, I might be able to get a few bucks for my old OptiSpark. Even though it still works, I might replace the rotor and clean it up first.