theres no woodruff key on the lt1 its press fit. as for digging in start with pulling the rad than the h2o pump and opti than the timing cover. that should give you enough room to get a good look at the crank.

 

well i finally got to it today, only took about an hour to get everything off. im not sure what i should be really looking for but everything looks ok. theres some little marks on the opti where the pully hit it. im allready gonna get new seels for the timing cover, is there anything else i should probably get also? and heres some pics i took while doing it Pictures by dopez28 - Photobucket

 

the crank looks pretty good, what about the threads? looks like you dodged a bullet there. get a new hub and a new bolt, maybe some locktite.

 

Dodging a bullet is exactly what I was thinking.
Before putting the timing cover back on, do not install the water pump seal. Put that on afterward, you need to use an installation "tool". Here's what I did, but others have gotten it to work by using a socket: https://camaroforums.com/forum/lt1-l...ve-seal-43601/
And you're not going to slap the old opti right back on like that are you? You might want to consider replacing it with a new one, considering how much "fun" it is to get to.

 

well it wasn't that bad getting to it, but no, i wouldn't want to do it again if i dont have to. and the threads in the crank seem good, i ran the bolt all the way in till it was snug and back out. i just looked a few up. is the MSD one worth the money or should i just get a less expensive one?

 

I had found a smoking deal on a new/preowned MSD on ebay for 185 delivered. Otherwise I wouldn't cough up the full price for one

 

Doesn't Chandler Motorsports have a good price on opti's? I used a GM Performance parts one when I did mine, and that puppy was about 4 bills if I remember.

 

yes chandler does and can get one with a life time warrenty. i used gm performance and msd, got 95k miles from the gm performace then sold the car. have 12k on the msd and its goin strong so far. gm one is about 130 bucks less than msd new. i found the unused msd for 400 from vette site, so only 15 bucks more than gm.

 

well iv been searching around for an opti, and im getting good and bad feed back for just about all of them. the best from what im finding is to get a GM one, GM Performance 1104032 - ACDelco Replacement Optispark Distributors - Overview - SummitRacing.com but this being remanufactured dosnt sit the greatest with me. and iv seen acouple people say to take the cap off and loctite the rotor screws. if a chandler would last me a few years, i def wouldnt mind getting one.

 

there are a few guys on here using chandler optis without issue yet far.