if it's like that you might as well pick up some new valve cover gaskets (a few bucks) and replace those too. i'd go with rubber ones. you have to glue the cork ones in and which can be done wrong and make them fail. also the rubber ones are reusable if you ever have to open the valve covers unlike the corks.

ps when youre installing this motor, DO NOT GET THE OPTISPARK WET.

 

Mine was the stock ifs v6 rear end. besides alot alot alot of axle wrap it held up fine. I tried a cheap set of the jc whitney traction bars that go from the u bolt plate along the top of the spring to the front spring mount, but they bent in half in a few hours of driving around town and getting on it. I left the rear end open, no locker or L/S. You will be very very very happy with the truck. I know i suprised many a people with that truck, on road and off road. Stoplight to stoplight on the street it would run with a lightly modded newer mustang gt (i know they arent all that, but when a lifted yota is keeping up they get worried). I ended up selling it to build another truck. If i could do it all over again, the radiator would be in the bed with dual electric fans, more room to work on stuff. Off road, i had no complaints. I do believe leaving the rear end open gave it a longer life throwing that much power at it.

 

have fun with an LT1 in there. The second any drop of moisture gets on the optispark, the motor is going to start acting up. I don't think its the best set up for anything off road. I would drop the carb intake on it and just run a dist. and carb to save you alot of troubles with wiring and it would end up saving money on the conversion.

 

yea a carb setup would be better, but the opti does not crap out if you get a drop of water on it. i've driven my car in the rain several times where the opti had moisture on it and no problems whatsoever. you just dont want to be an idiot about it and try to do things that might mess it up. it's a pain in the dick to replace.

 

Depends what year the motor is from. A 93-94 will go bad from any moisture at all. the 95-97 ones are vented but in a offroad application, i think the opti may get a little wetter than your car in the rain. Its not like your motor is getting much water on it during the rain with the way the fbodies are set up. If it was me, i would take the money you save from not having to buy the wiring kit and swap over to a carb/dist. set up. You could then sell the entire old intake assembly, the optispark. I would then switch over to an elec. water pump while your doing everything, that way you take all of the load off of the front cam bearing that tends to wear out in the LT1s. You will also need to use the stock LT1 or some LT1 style radiator due to the fact that LT1s are reverse cooled.

 

you know what i didnt even consider driving the truck through a mudpit or standing water. youre definitely right.

 

Yeah that might be an issue. Thats where i was coming from. I'm assuming he is building it for offroading some. Most of the trucks i have seen come back with their entire engine bay covered in mud and we end up powerwashing it to get all the mud out. In the fbody and vette they are not that bad but if you ever spill anything on them, they usually start acting up and then they cost sooo much to replace them, when if you do the work yourself.

 

a carb dosnt work well on trails... as soon as you get on a steep hill or off camber situation the motor dies.

 

there is no coverstion harness. you buy the painless wiring harness and use the GM computer.

 

I have a Muscle Car with an LT1. I get about 20mpg and smooth acceleration in the cold. It rocks. But in the rain, it misses. I am building a drag car out of it soon. I will be running a stand-alone on the single-turbo V-8, etc, etc. I can do an Opti-Spark-delete with waste-spark coils. Post what you need on this thread!