Sorry to bother you guys but had a question about optispark. I would rather ask you folks than the teenagers in other forums. I consider this low tech automotive talk.

I have a 97 Trans Am 5.7 l 6 speed. Need to replace waterpump and may as well do optispark. Will start PDX at Miller Motorsports Park in early April. Is there a "high performance" opti that is worth the cash or simply OE replacement recommended? Any brand and model you recommend for opti and pump? Where is a good place to do my shopping? BTW, I ran a search on this subject but could not find the specifics for my application. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1997 TA. I'm no expert on this but the talk & write up's I've seen say to do the water pump & optispark together every time,& use MSD compenents on the optispark.

I plan on doing the same two things on my 'bird. I bought new GM for both pieces. I used thepartsladi on e-bay for the opti and gmpartsdirect for the water pump.

I am sure there are other choices but the prices for these weren't alot more than remans, etc. so I just did this.

I concur with this approach. GM is the best choice for both pieces. Just shop around for best price/shipping deal.

I would recommend pulling the cover off the new opti and loctiting the small screws holding the rotor. Other than water getting in the unit, the next failure mode is typically the rotor coming loose (from vibration and high revs). It is not a typical problem on a street driven car. A lot of people also silicone seal the opti to keep water out. don't forget to get the timing cover/opti oil seal (does not come with the opti) which is a dealer part.

There are other options for the distributor...of which I know very little. Hopefully someone else will pipe in.

Bock

I got both from Summit, but for the Opti, most likely (if it's going south) a cap and rotor is all that's required. If it's running fine, definitely only do C&R.

Cap and Rotor

GMPP Water Pump

Another vote for strictly GM pump and opti