Thinking of getting this 1A2, think it looks any good?

I had to go someplace that was right next to a good auto repair shop I use, and I stopped in and asked for an estimate. The guy made a call and gave me:

Cap and rotor: $215
Wires: $75.32
Plugs: $14.10 each

Labor would depend on the location of the cap. If it's in the rear it's easier and would be about 2 hours. If it's in the front it's under some crap and will take 4-5 hours.

 

Did you tell them that it's a 94-96 (I don't think you mentioned the exact year of this wagon) LT1? Do a search for AC Delco or Delphi Opti Spark and the same brand wires for the year car. I got mine at Rock Auto. The Opti is under (behind) the water pump. The Opti is not cheap so you will be tempted to buy a cheaper one. Don't do it. If I were you I would buy the correct parts and, if need be, have someone install them. That way you KNOW you have the correct parts on the engine. Some mechanics have a way of saying it's OEM when it isn't. The LT1 is a little different from other engines and the Opti Spark (distributor) is one major difference and should not be replaced with an after market part.

 

x2 on AC/Delco, at the very least the seals that come with the AC units are nicer, and a sealed opti is vital. Do the plugs and wires at the same time unless they have been done recently and most important... put the wire looms on the plug wires especially on the right side. It's tight, close quarters for the wires to run through and the wires won't last long before they start to crossfire from rubbing on all the various brackets they run through. And yes a good vent harness is essential for the opti to live a long happy life.

You looking at an $800.00 dollar bill to have someone put a cap, rotor, plugs, and wires on that car, the dist. is behind the water pump on the LT1.

That is a cool Caprice wagon all in all.

Mike

 

It's a 94, and yea I told them it's a 94 with a 5.7 L. I said I was told it would be expensive, around 400, but they said no way. I asked if they knew what an optispark was, and none of them did.

 

If you can't do it yourself...get a different mechanic.

 

Aahh, run away!! mg:

 

I certainly couldn't do it myself. There's one other mechanic I could ask. I like the people I asked already, simply because they've diagnosed and fixed cheaply a few weird automotive problems I've had in the past. I'll see what the other guy says.

 

I see you're in upstate NY.
Here's a club that could possibly point you in the right direction:
http://www.capriceclassic.com/unyisso/old/

 

Take a look at the link Andy supplied. I think it's a great suggestion. Best to have people that work on LT1 engines rather than shot gun around and liking what some guy says. Experience with these engines goes a long way.

 

So what I want is one of these?

Or perhaps this since it's the same thing, but cheaper. They look different, but the part number is the same.

 

Quiet old man!

mike...i wonder if he is close to your or Joel and could learn to do it himself.
if i can learn he can learn. gives a sense of accomplishment...
my caprice started mis-firing when a plug wire rubbed through within 2 weeks of changing them. (i forgot wire loom.) a simple obd1 computer scan would tell you if there is res failure. i actually wish i had kept my caprice.

and yours isn't even an LT1!

maybe a fouled plug wire...maybe an opti.

I replaced my Opti with oversight and help from a friend who had done one before. its time consuming but not particularly hard. i found the hardest part to be changing the seals or the passenger side plugs. Mike squared have points i used an MSD cap/rotor on a delco opti. but i would use one of the 3 that are mentioned. (msd rotor and cap only..not the msd unit) check the SS forum you may find a deal. mine came off a car that got a new one and was totalled a month later.

 

Those opti-sparks are bad news. My neighbor has one in his Roadie sedan and has had nothing but issues with it from day one.

 

They are NOT bad news. They are just another distributor and if you use the CORRECT replacement and vent them they last 100K miles without issue. They get a bad rap from people that don't understand them and try to cheap out. If you read your FSM they are easy to work on. More time consuming than most distributors to change out but not difficult. It irritates me when people don't understand something, don't take the time to learn it and, subsequently, don't know how to fix it and, therefore, it is junk in their uninformed mind. It's just another distributor, folks.

 

E-mailing with the owner, he said "The distributer works fine, but the cap is probably original. I haven't touched it."

Does that mean this would be a cheaper fix? I'm not a mechanically inclined person, so I really couldn't say.

He's going to get me some photos of the underside in a day or two

 

My opti is still original. Just about hitting 193,000 kilometers on the car now.
I haven't had any engine issues since buying the car about 30K ago.
It's been very reliable.