Alright this is my first time really tackling a big project and first time working on a LT1. What started out as a seized water pump, turned into me buying, thermostat, radiator cap, radiator, water pump, MSD Opti, and MSD spark plug wires.
I finished piecing everything back together today. WHen i went to start the car is died a couple times, then when it would start it ran horrible rough and would die in a matter of seconds. SOmething is def not right. I rechecked all my spark plug wires and all my plugs.
The only thing i can think of is when i was taking the balancer off i turned the balancer to get a better angle on one of the bolts. But when the balancer came off the Hub was top dead center. So when i reinstalled the balancer i faced it top dead center as well!

Any ideas...please help!

 

are you sure that you put the opti on right i know on some of them they have two holes and if you dont put the nub in the right hole then it is out of time and by the sounds of your problem that could be one cause first i would check the wires to see if any are crossed i know you said you did i would check agian tho check that you are top dead center on number one and then check where the TDC mark is on the balancer and if it is not pointing then you might have put the opti in in the wrong direction

 

Were you tdc on compression stroke or exhaust stroke? If you spun the crank one rev while removing the balancer, you could be 180 out on timing.

 

How can i tell what stroke i was on??
Yeah i did spin the balancer one full time while taking the three bolts out. after i realized what i did...i spun it one full turn back so the mark on the balancer and hub were lined up. And were pointing straight up.

 

front is not externally ballanced so you can have the ballancer pointed in any direction and it wont effect the ballance of the motor. the arrow is to let you know when the motor is tdc, nothing more. the opti can only go in one way correctly. that is not to say it cannot be installed wrong with the use of force. did you put locktight on the screws in the rotor? thats a good idea with all opti's but the msd has had issues with that more than others. as stated recheck the plug wire placement a couple more times and make sure the coil wire is pluged all the way in. have you been able to scann it for codes?

 

Okay so what your saying is...it doesnt matter how many times you turn the harmonic balancer, it wont effect the timing??
Is there any way the timing can be messed up from changing the opti?
I made sure i lined up the Cam index with the opti index..it came with a little picture.

I didnt put any locktite on the screws. Which screws was i suppose to do that to?

 

Yeah Craby is wright. I forgot about only being able to install opti one way. If it went in easy and laid flat on timing cover you were good.

 

the screws that hold the rotor down, its under the cap on the opti.
like i said lining up the dots on the cam and crank gears is very important. i wish you would have taken a picture so we could look. lol. anyways ill see what i can find that would at least in part apply to a 96. would help alot if we had some trouble codes to go by.

 

Okay so if I couldn't screw up the balancer. And I'm almost positive I installed the opti right. It took a couple tries but I use my finger and made sure the indexes lined up and I barely touched it and it went on and fit flush.
Yeah I didn't put anything on the screws....I just took the old one off and put the new one right on.
And I'll try and put a scanner on it asap, but its impossible to drive right now.

 

yah and i dont know if you have had it running long enough to throw a code but if you can get a scanner to it, do it.