no no no

those aren't the seals

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmremmz2kgi

download the pdf from there and you'll see

Please take it from those who have been there before. Since it's original stuff, replace them. You'll be going back in to do it and a leaky seal will cause an opti to go bad, or a bad seal can cause the waterpump to wobble a little, it goes bad and leaks on the opti.

Are you seeing the pattern here? replace those seals

 

^^^ i tried changing that seal without the cone tool shown. went through three seals to do it. the seal is a double seal with two lips, without the cone the shaft catches on the inner lip on the seal and rips it as it drags it under the outer lip. the thing is u have to buy the timing cover gasket set to get the one seal.

 

and well worth it.

These cars are possessed. They look for any excuse to have the optispark go bad. If you are replacing the opti, or waterpump, and the seals are original, the car knows. It will get even with you for not replacing them.

Consider it foreplay. The LT1 is not satisfied unless you touch it everywhere.

 

The opti "going bad" isn't always a mechanical or electrical failure. And given the location, it's more likely a lack of maintenance problem than anything. The opti is still a cap & rotor distributor, same mechanical concept as an older style, rear engine mounted distributor. Nobody in their right mechanical mind would drive their old car 100k miles without giving it a tune up, including a SIMPLE cap & rotor change. The contacts inside get carboned up, and corroded WAY before 100k miles, and engine performance suffers.
The problem is that the opti is a real pain to get to, and it's left to be neglected until the engine starts to run like crap. Odds are pretty good that most of the Opti problems out there can be fixed with a good cleaning, and a cap & rotor change. But since it takes so much labor to even get to it, you would be a fool not to just replace the whole thing.
Cap & rotor change on an old school engine is 10 minutes tops. Chevy sure had a better idea with this opti design..for their mechanics and pocket books anyway!

 

thanks guys,and i know what you mean about the lt-1 liking lots of foreplay lol.this is the 2nd gen 4 lt-1 i've had.just trying to get all my ducks lined up before going at it.i hate being under a car,covered in oil,grease,anti freeze and having to stop,go to parts store for a $.59 gasket.bet the guys at discount/advance get a chuckle seeing us do that lol.now just wondering about that seal installation tool(the taperd one)does it by chance come with the timing cover gasket kit?silly me...should know better than to ask a question like that!!but thanks guys,i do appreciate the insight.am looking up gasket/seal part #'s now.

 

no gasket co. would do that. lol. i found a seal install set on ebay for the lt1. not sure if u can get the cone at the parts store. gm tool # j 39089