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MSD Ignition
- Thread starter gdrysdale
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LastDeadLast
Jedi Knight
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I've done a Mallory Unilite distributor/coil conversion, but not with MSD. The Mallory screams!
AltaKnight
Jedi Knight
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Welcome to the forum gdrysdale.
So, whereabouts in Alberta yer from?
So, whereabouts in Alberta yer from?
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[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone converted their TR6 ignition to MSD?
[/ QUOTE ]
Not on a TR6. I have a couple of MSD6 ignitions sitting on the shelf. Left over from a turbocharged plus Nitrous Oxide project. It is available with boost retard & rev limiting. You can't afford to have a missfire under any conditions with Nitrous Oxide, as it has been known to blow the whole top off of an engine. The MSD will put out a huge spark at very high rpm. It also requires direct supply wiring to the battery & can draw up to 15 amps at high rpm. It takes up a lot of mounting space & requires good cooling air flow. In my opinion, it would be vast overkill on any lower output engine & is very expensive.
There is not enough air gap space in the small diameter distributor caps to handle super high ignition voltages without the likelyhood of crossfire problems.
The advice to use a Pertronix is good.
D
Has anyone converted their TR6 ignition to MSD?
[/ QUOTE ]
Not on a TR6. I have a couple of MSD6 ignitions sitting on the shelf. Left over from a turbocharged plus Nitrous Oxide project. It is available with boost retard & rev limiting. You can't afford to have a missfire under any conditions with Nitrous Oxide, as it has been known to blow the whole top off of an engine. The MSD will put out a huge spark at very high rpm. It also requires direct supply wiring to the battery & can draw up to 15 amps at high rpm. It takes up a lot of mounting space & requires good cooling air flow. In my opinion, it would be vast overkill on any lower output engine & is very expensive.
There is not enough air gap space in the small diameter distributor caps to handle super high ignition voltages without the likelyhood of crossfire problems.
The advice to use a Pertronix is good.
D
trboost
Jedi Trainee
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Hi Dave,
The newer (with in the past 5 years) MSD units only use the points as a trigger with very little voltage passing through the points. The points on my car have outlaster the rubbing block easily with virtually no wear on the points themselves. The unit now controls dwell. When I first wired it in tried to set my points I learned this the hard way. I almost destroyed my dwell meter until I finaly realized the problem was not my meter but a change in their product.
I agree that on a stock motor little is to be gained except for possibly better starts on out of tune motors. As usual one thing leads to another & a new MSD should be coupled with a better coil, then 8mm wires and.............., you see what I'm getting to.
I would strongly recomend the MSD to compiment any performance motor.
The newer (with in the past 5 years) MSD units only use the points as a trigger with very little voltage passing through the points. The points on my car have outlaster the rubbing block easily with virtually no wear on the points themselves. The unit now controls dwell. When I first wired it in tried to set my points I learned this the hard way. I almost destroyed my dwell meter until I finaly realized the problem was not my meter but a change in their product.
I agree that on a stock motor little is to be gained except for possibly better starts on out of tune motors. As usual one thing leads to another & a new MSD should be coupled with a better coil, then 8mm wires and.............., you see what I'm getting to.
I would strongly recomend the MSD to compiment any performance motor.
D Thanks a million. I have used the pertronics (and uprated fireball coil) in the past but with 2 separate units I would develope a mild miss at about 3500 RPM within a few hundred miles. I though that maybe there was some minor play in the distributor shaft but it continued even after replacing the distributor. On both occasions when I put the points back in it would run fine.
prb51
Luke Skywalker
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I used an MSD unit on a MB 190sl (62) and it improved the drivability greatly. Same experience with the points and I finally changed them at 15K just to do it. You cannot use solid core ign wires or platinum plugs and must have a low resistance coil (1 ohm). The capacitor goes too. On a 4 banger the elec drain was not that great and caused no problems with the stock generator. Great unit.
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There are a lot of good ignitions out there. The fact remains that on the old small diameter Lucas distributor caps & rotors do not have the larger insulation air gaps that are needed for high voltage ignitions & wide plug gaps. This is why newer distributors have larger diameter distributors. The old style Lucas rotors can barely handle the stock ignition voltages.
Keoke,
I triggered the MSD from a Ford electronic trigger. Never tried it with points.
D
Keoke,
I triggered the MSD from a Ford electronic trigger. Never tried it with points.
D
Keoke
Great Pumpkin
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Well Dave,I had to give a bit of thought to this one. You know the Bosch Distributors in our early little Volvo cars are also small. They are so small I get claustrophobia when installing a crane unit in one of them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif.However, they perform very well with the Pertronics and Lucas Sport Coil combination, of course those are Bosch components Not Lucas could make a difference you know.---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
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Hi Keoke,
Actual required voltage to fire a plug is pretty much a function of cylinder pressure & plug gap.
I suspect that the Pert with Sport coil will work perfectly well at smaller plug gaps in the small distributors. The actual required firing voltage is still moderate, the cylinder pressures are usually moderate.
OTOH, with high cylinder pressures and or wide plug gaps, required firing voltage goes up & cross firing in the small air gap caps becomes more likely. The wide rotor nose on the old Lucas doesn't help the problem. Lucas rotors are also noted for insulation breakdown from rotor to metal shaft if the plug gaps are made too wide. In fact, they frequently fail at standard plug gaps, but that is a whole 'nother story.
Note the large diameter caps & some internal shields used on late model distributors to avoid the problem. The ultimate at this time is a coil on each plug with no distributor cap or rotor. A mixed blessing. I have a V10 with 10 separate coils to worry about.
D
Actual required voltage to fire a plug is pretty much a function of cylinder pressure & plug gap.
I suspect that the Pert with Sport coil will work perfectly well at smaller plug gaps in the small distributors. The actual required firing voltage is still moderate, the cylinder pressures are usually moderate.
OTOH, with high cylinder pressures and or wide plug gaps, required firing voltage goes up & cross firing in the small air gap caps becomes more likely. The wide rotor nose on the old Lucas doesn't help the problem. Lucas rotors are also noted for insulation breakdown from rotor to metal shaft if the plug gaps are made too wide. In fact, they frequently fail at standard plug gaps, but that is a whole 'nother story.
Note the large diameter caps & some internal shields used on late model distributors to avoid the problem. The ultimate at this time is a coil on each plug with no distributor cap or rotor. A mixed blessing. I have a V10 with 10 separate coils to worry about.
D