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MSD Ignition

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Jim_Newman

Jim_Newman

Jedi Hopeful
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Anyone out there (besides Randy) hooked up an MSD ignition system?
I have attempted to install a 6A ignition in my 1960 BN7. The car is converted to negative ground. The distributor was converted to Pertronix some time ago. The coil is a Lucas Sports 40,000Volt. The plug wires are not solid core.
I diligently followed the MSD installation instructions of the manual for Pertronix setups and now HAVE NO SPARK.
I checked the voltage on the "small red wire" as instructed and it is 12Volts. However I cannot generate a spark from the coil wire.
I dismantled the system and returned to the original set up and the engine starts and runs fine.
What do I do now? Could the coil be incompatible?
I hope to hear from the manufacturer soon, but in the meantime, any thoughts from BCFland?
As always, any advice and guidance is appreciated.
 
Having suffered incompatibilty issues in my former life as an instrumentation tech, I get as many of the components from the same manufacturer as possible.

I fitted the MSD Blaster II coil along with their AL6-2 (digital processor) control module.

They have ALL their wiring diagrams, and variations online. Their online forum has a troubleshooting section, and I've seen where they respond to questions right away.

Good luck!
 
Jim_Newman said:
Could the coil be incompatible?
Click to expand...
<span style="text-decoration: line-through">I believe that is correct. You are using an inductive coil with a CD ignition. The MSD outputs about 450 volts where the sports coils is expecting 12 volts coming in.</span>
Strike that, I just read part of the 6A manual and it says it should would with a stock coil.

Which Pertronix do you have? You should be running the original, not the 2 or 3. They will fight the 6A to do the same job where the original will just act as a trigger.
 
Randy,
Is there any advantage to the programmable one (MSD-6530)?
Any reason you used the square coil vs. the round 8202?
rich
 
richberman said:
Randy,
Is there any advantage to the programmable one (MSD-6530)?
Any reason you used the square coil vs. the round 8202?
rich
Click to expand...
There might be an advantage to the programable unit, if a) you were trying to extract the last 1/10 hp, or b) were willing to spend time trying umteen different scenarios while running on a dynomometer.

Remember: with tuning, it's a lot easier to make a bad decision than a good one.

My life is complicated enough__I go simple where I can.

Apparently, I took the square one as their recommended coil for my purposes. I've slept since then, so if there were any other underlying reasons, I don't remember them :wink:
 
On Randy's advise I put in an MSD this past weekend
(see this thread)

The installation went smooth as silk and the ignition fired up without any issue at all.

Have you tried manually firing the 6AL by intermittently grounding and releasing the white trigger wire? The procedure is in the back of the 6AL manual. If you aren't getting spark after this procedure then I would suspect that something might be wrong with the ignition. If you do get spark, then I would suspect the igniter as the issue.


Just a thought, did you remember to cut one of the cylinder select loops?
 
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