MSD vs Mallory

[Zorb]

I am currently building a 383 for street use and am trying to decide what ignition system to use. The motor will have mild hydyaulic cam, 9.5 pistons, mild head porting, headers. Can some of you give me your thoughts on MSD vs the Mallory Hyfire systems? Pros - cons on each? I would like to run a vacuum advance. There must be a ton of comments out there.

[Christopher]

Have you considered the Mopar electronic ignition package?? It's a great setup,I use it on all of my cars without a problem.

[PRO]

I agree the MP ign. is probably best suited here in my opinion,the added dollars of MSD or Mallory isnt warranted in your app. but theres no reason you cant run either one.I'm more of a "bang for the buck" kinda guy, if it doesn't make me go faster I'm really not interested although multiple spark will burn cleaner but its more suited to higher compression or nitrous or blown or turbo,I prefer Jacobs Ign. for street duty cars w/ relatively low comp.(10:1 or less).....PRO...

[Elwenil]

As I've stated before I run MSD almost religiously in my cars and trucks. I'm not knocking the MP system in any way, I like it also, but for ease of starting and so forth, I like MSD. If you go with a 6AL, you get a biult in rev limiter that is hard to beat. To me that's just cheap insurance. Check out the other topic entitled "MSD 6AL" for more of me running on about MSD.
~Elwenil~ ~.\|/.~

[Richard Reardon]

ZORB,

I agree w/ Christopher and Pro that the factory MOPAR ignition is suitable for just about any reasonable street engine and or moderate race applications. I have a Mallory
Unilite in my ??? I picked up used @ an auto flea mkt, probably 6-7 years ago now. I haven't had the cap off yet. I may have changed the plugs once. I just have the distributor and coil on the car now, but I recently bought the Hyfire box w/ a rev limiter. I'll install this next spring. MSD has to be good as they continue to move a lot of product. Mallory has been around since I started playing w/ cars and probably before that, so they have a reputation also. We use to use the Mallory Rev-pole distributor in our 327 equiped street and race machines in the mid '60s. They were the hot ticket item back then.
Let's face it, Chrysler Corp'n. was the first of the big 3 to introduce electronic ignition systems. They have a reputation too.
I'd choose MOPAR ignition for your application, unless you come across a deal on an after market piece like I did and you trust the guy you buy it from. I took a chance for $25 (yes $25) bucks and came out ahead. They were selling out of SUMMITT new for $118 @ the time.
Richard

[Elwenil]

Speaking of Mallory. I managed to pick up a weird Mallory dual point distributor for a small block. The ignition wires don't plug into the cap, instead you cut the ends off and stick them through the top of a two piece cap. They stick onto metal nail-like points and then the top of the cap screws down to hold them in place. Anyone seen anything like this?
~Elwenil~ ~.\|/.~

[Zorb]

Thanks for the comments guys.... I am in need of a total ignition system including distributor with coil and am trying to figure on cost. MSD looks to be the most expensive and they don't make a dist with vacuum chamber. Mallory Hyfire seems to be abuot half the price but I keep reading warnings about not using a ballast resistor and electrical noise blowing out the distributor unilite pickup unit. Are these systems more fragile (electronically) than the stock parts? I have read somewhere that Mallory makes a magnetically triggered unit that is more reliable. I seem to remember about 15 years ago putting a unilite pickup in a chevelle with solid wires and the thing ran for about 2 minutes and that was it. When you speak of "Mopar ignition", are you talking about parts from the dealer or from a company like Year One or Summit? How much can I expect to $$$? I am wondering if I should just go down to the local auto parts store and get rebuilt distributor and aftermarket coil and control unit for chrysler. The motor is going in an old car (62) and is totally stripped right now. I can wire it easily now but it might be a hassle to change it later on.

[340king]

Mopar Performance makes a electronic ignition change over or conversion kit. In my opinion you could buy the kit and get most everything you need. I have run both MP and MSD. For your application I agree with PRO and Christopher. Now if you plan to add compression and go racing in the future then maybe the MSD is the way to go. You can use a stock electronic distributor with the MSD, vacuum advance and all, very effectively.

[DartGT66]

I agree, the MP electronic ignition is one of the most cost worthy parts there is. It's inexpensive, pretty reliable and works. The performance increase you might get with a 'better' ignition system in a typical street/strip engine is marginal at best. If you already have the car with the electronic wiring you may save more and use a factory distributor and buy only the hp ECU, either orange or chrome box. The production distributor is the same as the MP unit; just remove the heavier and longer of the two advance springs and you have a 'performance curve' in the distributor. Also the MP unit has this heavy spring, which means that you don't get full advance before about 5000 rpm, no matter what MP tells you.

[Elwenil]

When we say Mopar Performance ignition, we are for the most part speaking of the electronic conversion kits and their components. I agree with everyone else, if you need a complete ignition system, go with the Mopar Performance Electronic Conversion Kit. You said your 383 is for street use, so Mopar part number P3690427 is the way to go. These can normally be had from any source for around $150. ($159.95 from Summit) These come with the distributor, ECU and wiring. Everything you need for around the cost of a rebuilt distributor from the parts store. This is an excellent system, and like was stated above, if you want to modify your combination for more power later on, the MSD Ignition can easily be added on later. I still like the rev limiter though!
~Elwenil~ ~.\|/.~

[This message has been edited by Elwenil (edited December 22, 1999).]

[JohnnyMopar]

My 2 cents for Zorb is that all advice is correct here. Bottom line, do you want a rev limiter or not? Otherwise, I'd go with the chrome box and stock Vac-advance distributor with the larger spring removed. Also, please use a NEW wiring harness from MP. They are cheap and you will have peace of mind for the quality of the wire. Resistance kills power!

Good luck.

JM

[cruzerjd]

I agree with everyone about the Mp ignition system Easy to install, reliable and fairly cheap, the performance is pretty good also. I put one on my LeBaron which had the cursed Lean Burn and the performance increase was pretty good. Before I put it in, the car wouldn't scratch the tires going even if I laumched hard, now all I have to do is goose the gas a little and whoo hoo, wheel spin. So unless you want the scrap of extra power one of the other systems would give you over the MP, then that is the way to go, cruzerjd