Points vs MSD electronic ignition?

[Stanglover]

I like my ugly red box and distributor, different strokes for different folks

Ok Mike, Your car your choice my friend.

 

[Mikes73]

No worries, I have a black, red and gunmetal theme going on under the hood on the beast. I bought this car as a true roller so we just built it from scratch our way

 

[4Vforever]

If you don't want to get an msd because of the cost... you can pick up a ford duraspark ignition system pretty cheap. You can buy a rebuilt dizzy, ignition module for around $100. Easy to wire and stone cold reliable. I have a spare duraspark dizzy and igniton module and coil I keep in my trunk on long road trips.... just in case my MSD shits the bed.

Good thought, I keep forgetting about these as we never got them over in Australia.

As for MSD, I've never seen a manufacturer palm off so many problems or treat people that know what they're doing like idiots as I have with MSD. One of their replies (which seemed generic as I seen it from others) was basically saying it was our fault for using their products and hooking it up into our cars. When 2 distributors and 3 boxes crapped out in a row and MSD failing to see a problem, then jam them as far as they can. Hopefully their quality has picked since then, but the old once bitten, twice shy scenarios works with me, plus after the way we were treated by them, no chance of going back even if they were free. Been using Crane and the Australian made IC&E stuff since without any real dramas, or if there was got great support and the only time with IC&E they admitted it was faulty and replaced the entire set up in case the problem created another elsewhere later on. I really don't care what anyone wants to use, as it's their car, but all I know is a good ignition system is what's needed for great everyday driving and for tunability, plus to make good power.

 

[Stanglover]

No worries, I have a black, red and gunmetal theme going on under the hood on the beast. I bought this car as a true roller so we just built it from scratch our way

Sounds nice Mike. You have a theme and sticking to it makes sense.

 

[mustang7173]

I agree with Don C here that point!

mustang7173

Generally, vacuum secondaries work best with automatic transmissions. However, it really depends on individual driving styles and knowing how they interact. I prefer mechanical secondaries with an automatic, but have vacuum secondaries for drivability for my wife.

 

[turtle5353]

If you don't want to get an msd because of the cost... you can pick up a ford duraspark ignition system pretty cheap. You can buy a rebuilt dizzy, ignition module for around $100. Easy to wire and stone cold reliable. I have a spare duraspark dizzy and igniton module and coil I keep in my trunk on long road trips.... just in case my MSD shits the bed.

Good thought, I keep forgetting about these as we never got them over in Australia.

As for MSD, I've never seen a manufacturer palm off so many problems or treat people that know what they're doing like idiots as I have with MSD. One of their replies (which seemed generic as I seen it from others) was basically saying it was our fault for using their products and hooking it up into our cars. When 2 distributors and 3 boxes crapped out in a row and MSD failing to see a problem, then jam them as far as they can. Hopefully their quality has picked since then, but the old once bitten, twice shy scenarios works with me, plus after the way we were treated by them, no chance of going back even if they were free. Been using Crane and the Australian made IC&E stuff since without any real dramas, or if there was got great support and the only time with IC&E they admitted it was faulty and replaced the entire set up in case the problem created another elsewhere later on. I really don't care what anyone wants to use, as it's their car, but all I know is a good ignition system is what's needed for great everyday driving and for tunability, plus to make good power.

I also had some trouble with MSD for a little while....couple years ago 2-3?? I had a couple modules in the dizzy burn up. Had 2 6al digital boxes go bad on me one after another. One was bad right out of the box. I was pissed and all they tell you was you hooked it up wrong! BULLSH*T! It was in the car for couple years then went bad, put in new one it was bad, put in another one and it seems to be ok. Not a fan of the digital boxes..... the old analog boxes seemed to be made WAY better and lasted forever! I do like having the rev limiter and how easy it is to adjust in the digital... no pills to plug in. I also like my small cap MSD billet dizzy without the vacuum advance. But I have heard horror stories about them creating too much ozone insde the cap and having crossfire issues! Also no place for the moisture to go and they corrode like crazy. Ask MSD about it and there fix is to DRILL a hole in your cap....WTF?? I have talked to some people that have never had issues and talked to some people who have had nothing but issues. I am right in the middle. Had several failures, but also had many years of trouble free running. But, you wont find too many people bitching about the duraspark set up other than its kinda ugly with that big old cap ! If anything in my MSD set goes bad again.... im switching to duraspark.

 

[Stanglover]

[

.... But, you won't find too many people bitching about the duraspark set up other than its kinda ugly with that big old cap ! If anything in my MSD set goes bad again.... im switching to duraspark.

Just curios about the "big old cap" on the DuraSpark? I picked up a very good '76 Duraspark from the junk yard recently and it has the exact same casting and cap as my MotorCraft that is in the car. I got it for parts, but it turned out to be a keeper to be restored later.

Or, are you talking about a different later version that I am not familiar with?

 

[turtle5353]

[

.... But, you won't find too many people bitching about the duraspark set up other than its kinda ugly with that big old cap ! If anything in my MSD set goes bad again.... im switching to duraspark.

Just curios about the "big old cap" on the DuraSpark? I picked up a very good '76 Duraspark from the junk yard recently and it has the exact same casting and cap as my MotorCraft that is in the car. I got it for parts, but it turned out to be a keeper to be restored later.

Or, are you talking about a different later version that I am not familiar with?

The factory original dizzys were small cap like this:

The duraspark dizzy has a much larger cap to help prevent crossfire:

I am running a small cap MSD billet dizzy.

These pics just show you what I mean by "big cap" on the duraspark. If I remember correctly you can still make a small cap work on the duraspark but you have to make sure you get the proper rotor with it. Also you run a higher risk of cross fire at higher rpms with the small cap. Ford went to the bigger cap for a reason. With the more powerful spark from the duraspark ignition system they would have a lot more trouble with cross fire than they did with the old points system.

Motorcraft DH370 cap and DR5B rotor should work with a duraspark dizzy. But you have to use factory style spark plug ends! I have female spark plug ends for terminal style caps.

 

[Stanglover]

[

.... But, you won't find too many people bitching about the duraspark set up other than its kinda ugly with that big old cap ! If anything in my MSD set goes bad again.... im switching to duraspark.

Just curios about the "big old cap" on the DuraSpark? I picked up a very good '76 Duraspark from the junk yard recently and it has the exact same casting and cap as my MotorCraft that is in the car. I got it for parts, but it turned out to be a keeper to be restored later.

Or, are you talking about a different later version that I am not familiar with?

These pics just show you what I mean by "big cap" on the duraspark. If I remember correctly you can still make a small cap work on the duraspark but you have to make sure you get the proper rotor with it. Also you run a higher risk of cross fire at higher rpms with the small cap. Ford went to the bigger cap for a reason. With the more powerful spark from the duraspark ignition system they would have a lot more trouble with cross fire than they did with the old points system.

Motorcraft DH370 cap and DR5B rotor should work with a duraspark dizzy. But you have to use factory style spark plug ends! I have female spark plug ends for terminal style caps.

Interesting, thanks for that info. Perhaps the one I have is an earlier version as it was complete with cap and all internals..... and many years of crud! As I said, I bought it for parts, but have decided to keep it as a DuraSpark. I did see that the custom built ones do have that bigger cap as you show.

Geoff.

 

[flstf09]

That big blue cap is beautiful!

 

[Stanglover]

That big blue cap is beautiful!

Better blue than red!!!lollerz

 

[flstf09]

I've actually been looking for a blue cap and haven't been able to find one.Red goes better with chebby orange ha ha.

 

[Mikes73]

I guess I'll have to put a Chevy badge on the front of my Bunker Knudson limited edition mustang ::thumb::

 

[flstf09]

Oh I have the red stuff on mine too,just not the dizzy.MSD coil and box.I may try to hide the box and do something with the coil someday.Im trying to do the wolf in sheeps clothing thing as much as I can.My engine is somewhat unassuming other than the SCJ-A heads maybe.Short Torker II intake.Stock reproduction CJ valve covers.Cant see the Holley 950HP at all.Factory distributor.

 

[Mikes73]

I like your idea, Wolf in sheep's clothing sounds good. Here is a pic of mine.

 

[flstf09]

Here's my little school bus motor.

 

[turtle5353]

When I put my first motor in my car I was going for the sleeper look. I even had the stock air filter. But modified the back of it to flow much better and not be seen. That set up was still good for around 400hp.

Then I built my 408 stroker..... not very stealth!!

 

[flstf09]

Turtle are those Taylor wires?

 

[turtle5353]

Turtle are those Taylor wires?

Yep. Taylor Spiro-pro 8mm

 

[flstf09]

I've been thinking about getting Taylor wires.I like their blue better than Ford Racing.Do you like them?My best friend is the plant manager at Taylor,he gives me a hard time about my Ford racing wires.