4/5 Pin Orange Box

[Lasalles]

My car has a 5 pin ignition box(black stock)and does this meen i have to use a 5 pin Orange box if im replacing it or can i use the 4 pin Orange Box module???

[PRO]

You can use the 4 pin without any probs,.......PRO....

[Lasalles]

So what do i do with the extra wire from the factory 5 pin plug??Also i take it i can still use my 4 pin ballast resistor...
Thanks,i ordered an Orange Box today and the guy said it has 4 pins,later i checked mine and saw it had the five.Would it be easier to just order the 5 pin box???

[PRO]

Ive never seen a 5 pin orange ecu,you can just remove the 5 th wire,usually green,you can still use your 4 pin ballast although only 2 pins of it are required,for a really hot spark dont use the resistor,this will provide 12 volts to the ecu instead of approx 7 volts which in turn also provides 12 volts to the coil,just mount the ecu in the coolest place under the hood or go to a bone yard and find a ecu mount from a 74-78 full size chrysler,itll raise it 1" off the firewall for better air circulation...........PRO.......

[71383bee]

The green wire for the fifth pin is just a ground. Mopar Performance even says for elctronic ignition conversions to cut the green wire and wrap the end into the harness. Not to worry.

[Lasalles]

Thanks guys,so the wiring is sorted now i just have to use two wires for th eballast resistor rather than the four pins..
Thanks again for the help

[folke]

The green wire is not ground!. It is used to feed part of the electronics of the 5-pin box. It is connected to the high resistance (about 4.5 ohms) part of the 4 terminal resistor. Make sure you use the other circuit (about 1.1 ohms) if you chose to keep the old resistor.

[Lasalles]

Folke did u meen if i remove the green wire to make shure i use the correct 2 pin ballast resistor?????

[folke]

If you keep the stock 4-terminal resistor and use the stock (5-pin) wiring harness exactly as it was connected to the resistor you don't have to worry. If you use the 4-terminal resistor and a new 4-pin wiring harness you must make certain you connect it to the correct terminal of the resistor.

[Jims451]

folke is right. You can just plug the orange box (4-pin) into the old (5-pin) wiring harness.
It is also true that the 5th wire is NOT a ground, it goes to the high resistance side of the Dual Ballast resistor.
The Orange (4-pin) ECU does not use this part of the Ballast resistor because the resistor is now contained inside the Orange ECU.
For those who are intrested in electronics, I tore apart an old Orange ECU and reverse engineered it. The resistor is a current limiting resistor that goes to a voltage regulating diode inside the ECU. This regulated voltage (I think around 5-Volts) supplies power to the circuits inside the ECU.

[George G. Leverette]

When switching to the four pin ECU leave all five wires intact, and use the dual ballast resistor, if you need to convert back to the five pin, the ECUs are available at the local parts houses and are probably more realiable, less costly and available than the Orange Box.

[Lasalles]

Thanks guys i plan on leaving the 4 pin ballast resistor there as itll be easier than removing wires etc...Uve all been a great help so it will be a straightfoward swap now,just removing the green wire and tying it away incase i need it in future.

[Frans Veldman]

Can anyone tell me what the advantage is of that orange box?
I plan to upgrade the ignition parts a bit, but I'm wondering what the difference is between stock and the orange box, i.e. is it worth the money? My upper rpm is around 4000.

Thanks for any info!
Frans

[Jims451]

I think the biggest advantage of the orange box is you don't have to use the dual ballast resistor which seems to burn out more often than it should.
I don't think there would be much difference under 4,000 RPM either. I never compared the dwell between the two boxes, but I doubt it is that much different in the lower rpm ranges.

Like I mentioned earlier, the old Mopar ECU was a good design for the early 1970's to early 1980's when it was originally used. The box really works simular to the older points distribitor, but with no points or rubbing block to wear out (or bounce at higher RPMs), and a more consistent dwell angle over the RPM range.

Don't think that because the Mopar ECU is an electronic box, that it is simular to the more modern performance "C.D." (Capacitive Discharge) boxes like the MSD 6A, Crane HI-6, Acell 300+, Mallory Hy-fire, etc...

[rumblefish360]

The box offers a hotter spark and more RPM to about 6000. The Gold box was built with autotronics help and attemps to spark the plug more than once. I do not know if they were able to do this tho. It's one hot box that Gold.
I agree with Jimms451 3rd parragraph. Very much so.

[PRO]

The orange box has more DWELL than a stock box,that is it anticipates the next spark sooner and starts building it sooner which produces a hotter spark,the dwell is constant to 6000 rpms then it falls off..........PRO....