What brand of ignition

[pjmopar]

I am wanting to purchase a pointless ignition system for my 71 383. I read where the MOPAR Direct distributors are not as good as they use to be. I would like to hear what y'all recommend and why.

Thanks

[John Kunkel]

Some say they're better than before; the current ones have an externally adjustable centrifugal advance.

[bigiron]

I pulled a new Mopar dist... Installed a fancy schmancy MSD pro billit blaw blaw blaw.... absolutly, positivly, no difference in power/torque. That comes directly from back to back dyno slips... so now 300 - 400 bucks lighter.. I have a real pretty dist that did nothing more than dress the engine up a little bit (now that's not a bad thing) but I was hoping for a little more than that...

In the future... I'll put a little more trust in ma Mopar myself...

[ehostler]

FBO Systems has a great setup that is based on the MOPAR electronic setup.

[dust]

I have FBO and MSD.

MSD Pro-Billet Digital E-Curve Distributor (don't have yet) adjustable RPM limiter and adjustable curve.
FBO everything else except wires/plugs

[rumblefish360]

I purchased a MoPar BB distrib. Works perfect. Love it. It's triggered by a FBO set up. Love it.

[dave571]

There's nothing wrong with the mp distributor.

The debate is more with the ignition boxes than the distributors.

The orange box that comes in the mp kit doesn't seem to test as well on a real life test bench as one would expect. It's better than stock, but not much.

The FBO ecu and coil, with a mp distributor is a good set up.

The MSD stuff is great too, but I (and others) have found that the msd is very hard on ignition parts, and as such can be unreliable on a driver type of application.

[Crank]

i never had much problems with mopar stuff, well once i checked the cam in the dist.and it was 6-8 thousands out it took me a long time to figure that one out it was missing bad ,plus make sure your ground has a good conection theirs no surge protectiun when you switch to electronic it will blow every light bulb in the car at the same time.had that happen once.

[dust]

Originally Posted by dave571

The MSD stuff is great too, but I (and others) have found that the msd is very hard on ignition parts, and as such can be unreliable on a driver type of application.

That is mainly the box's, right?

[dusterdon15]

Go with the Mopar kit. You want to keep the vacuum advance for milage sake. 3-4 mpg better with vacuum advance. Older mopar distributors had a problem with the reluctor not in sync with the rotor. Newer ones are better. I have a Mallory Hyfire 6AL box. Really like it. probably the same as the equivalent MSD box. much better idle with a bigger than stock camshaft. But thats my opinion and 2 cents.

don

[DartGT66]

The old MP distributor were just the same as the production distributors, except maybe htat they had a pretty short centirfugal advance in them. the quality was just as good or bad as in any production pieces. Usual problems were the reluctor pick up sync; the gap changed with vacuum advance, and thta the reluctor may not be phased correctly. You may get different advances in different cylinders beacause of that. But overall, there is no magic power in ignition systems. The only thing it has to do is to fire the air/fuel at the correct time. It can not do it well or bad; it either does it or doesn't. So, if your stock system creates enough voltage for your cylinder pressure, your air fuel ratio is correct and so on, you will not gain any power by installing a zillion volt mega multi spark set up. I'm using old MSD products and mopar marine distributor, and they have worked great. If I were to buy a new system, I would propably get either a MSD distributor ro a FBO prepped one. The correct curve and accuracy are the most important factors.

[sanborn]

The answer is the use the ignition that fits your application/desires.

For street use(moderate performance), the standard Mopar unit is probably fine. Vacuum advance is a definite plus for better fuel mileage. Tayloring the advance curve to fit YOUR needs may take some time---but what else is new.

I've had good results using a Mopar marine unit in a moderate competition application.

I must admit, I am sold on MSD distributors. We have used them for years. But like everythig else in life, there are several choices within the MSD line. For street, vacuum advance, small distributor cap, centifical advance fully operable. For competition, locked distributor, large cap. If I was to build a TF engine, probably there is another MSD unit needed.

Why do I like MSD? Ball bearings vs bushings in a stock unit, the ability to adjust each individual reluctor for each individual cylinder and maybe most important, the electronic components will take the abuse of the ignition boxes. MSD also offers a distributor specifically built for dry sump engines(very few need this advantage). All the internal workings are generic(same for all brands). We have never had a distributor failure. We have five units in use- four competiton units, one street unit.

The ignition boxes seem to be where the real difference lies. For moderate performance, the aftermarket Mopar unit is probably fine. We have just never been happy with them in high compression, high RPM race applications. But, to be honest, we have found IN OUR APPLICATION that even MSD 6 boxes aren't sufficient. We use only the MSD 7 units. Our cylinder pressures/RPMs are just too extreme for the MSD 6. But we are not typical. BTW, we have had one failure in about 10 years of racing and street use both. We have three 7 boxes and one 6 box.

[rumblefish360]

BTW, we have had one failure in about 10 years of racing and street use both. We have three 7 boxes and one 6 box.

Sure wish I had your luck. 3 boxs (6 series) failed in 1 year.

[Kevin Garceau]

well although an MSD or comparable quality dist may not show up in added horse or TQ on the dyno.

You generally will see an increase in consistency for bracket racing with them because they will hold time at various rpms better than a stock distr which can have issues at higher RPMs.

Not sure why anyone would expect to see a gain in HP from a dist, it just points the fire

If your going through MSD boxes like that you have an issue somewhere, either serious ground issues or spikes. I have ran MSD forever and knock on wood have never had an issue with any series of MSD boxes. I know they can go bad, and most are from welding on the car, or getting water in them.... like anything mechanical they can have issues.

[sanborn]

Kevin, the other thing that gets the MSD boxes is a poor engine ground Or grounding of the box.

Rumble, I think I would check and double check your installation. Make sure you don't have a short somewhere.

[Kevin Garceau]

serious ground issues

more times than not any elec issues can be traced to a bad ground

[rumblefish360]

3 seperate cars many boxs.

[BDS 871 Cuda]

Originally Posted by rumblefish360

3 seperate cars many boxs.

Don't get mad rumble, but maybe it's the guy hooking it up?

MSD works and that's that. Mopar perf. ign. works good the first season.

Come the second season and you get timing bounce, then it's time to buy

another one. On the street they work fine. Run them hard and they will start

to fail. My MSD has worked great for 8 years so far.

[rumblefish360]

Ok, not mad. Not a mad reply before or now.
It would be me hooking them up and yep, I'z pazzed hi-skool.
Seriously, I have 1 box thats lasted a few years in my Cuda. Other tha that, 1-1/2 years is the max life I have gotten out of one.
I followed the instructions easy. There easy.
The connections are well done. and heat shrink wrapped. All connections were wire brushed as well as the connecting points to where the wire went. Example; Battery posts, wired clean and shinny, not like a polish now. Bolted down tight.
Also the triangle of grounds are done the same way. Battery to engine, engine to body, body to battery. No brakes in the wires. No extra splices or piggy backing ethier.
Placement of the boxes have been on the firewall under the booster, fire wall left side, under battery box on frame rail, on innner fender. (Under the battery has lasted the longest.)
Have gone through several coils. Mounted several ways. On engine, on inner fender.
Coil and boxes have failed in every spot mounted level and standing up.
I have spoke with MSd amny times. I had one tech deal woth me directly over time to find out whats going on.
I did like this fact very much. I want to note, "They called me and worked one on one like this over a couple of weeks one on one."

I swear, I have had bad luck with the MSD stuff. Thats it. Just bad luck. I know guys running stuff *I think* it's 9 years old now. Maybe older. Lots of guys have theres along time. Just not me.

MoPar boxs have allways been good to me except my first Orange box. It would only start once. Need to disconnect it to start the car again. Swapped out a box and never had a problem again.

[pishta]

Mallory, then mallory, then points...MSD left me high and dry 2 times. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me! I have a Mallory model 645, not a new piece at all,matter of fact thay couldnt even fax me the instructions, they just told me how to hook it up it was so old, but it still works. CD with multi-spark, their first venture into this type of ignition. I had it in the trunk when my first MSD failed. I now run a HyFire-5, kinda old fashioned looking and big as a 1/2 loaf of bread, but it fits my nostalgic build-up. Hits very hard and has an adjustable rev liniter. Mallory also repairss boxes for like 35 bucks flat fee plus shipping, not bad.

[dave571]

I'm with rumble.

I've had msd boxes fail. 2 out 4 is my tally so far.

Grounded directly to the battery, but that's besides the point.

I'm not trashing msd. It DOES work. And it is a NECESSITY on cars with big cam duration numbers. A single spark just won't burn the fuel properly at lower engine speeds in such a car.

On street cars I have found it burns up caps and rotors at a rate which most hobby guys won't like, and the unit WILL strand you.

That said, who hasn't had a ballast resistor strand them on thier old mopar

The last MSD I did, I left the stock ignition in place, and set it up so I could switch the coil +/- wires and some plug ins, to run the stock stuff when the need arose. That did come in handy

[ehostler]

I've got the MOPAR Performance electronic distibutor and the Jacobs Pro 12 and coil on my car. It's been a great setup. I had originally installed the complete MOPAR kit and it only ran alright. The Jacob's made a big difference.

If Don, over at FBO, had his ignition system at that time, I would have gone with it. It uses a modified MOPAR electronic distributor, the custom FBO brains and coil. If the FBO brain should ever die, you can go to any parts store and grab a MOPAR ECU and be up and running again. You can't do that with any of the others.

[mopar_nocar]

use the mopar distributor and a hook up like this:

http://duster318.freeservers.com/tech/hei.html

its a real neat set up and can give you what you want w/o breaking the bank.

sb

[rumblefish360]

That said, who hasn't had a ballast resistor strand them on thier old mopar

Friday morning at work, 8:00 am, 20 min,'s before go punch out. URG!

[pishta]

Originally Posted by mopar_nocar

use the mopar distributor and a hook up like this:

http://duster318.freeservers.com/tech/hei.html

its a real neat set up and can give you what you want w/o breaking the bank.

sb

Dang, that motor is cobbled together! You can run a Mopar ECU with points too, (almost infinite point life ) and most other OEM ECU's if that helps anyone.

[mopar_nocar]

yes its a TEST MULE. I have seen this set up on other cars look much better AND does a better job than the mopar unit.

sb

[68polara]

i got MP with crome box for five years no problems yet 68 383

[rumblefish360]

I echo 68polara's post. That Chrome box on my Cuda has been perfect for at least the same amount of time.

[B1owner]

Originally Posted by rumblefish360

I echo 68polara's post. That Chrome box on my Cuda has been perfect for at least the same amount of time.

Damn, I must REALLY be lucky. My black ecu is 33 years old. 11.00's consistenly too.

[70 net440]

I have an FBO Stage II kit on my son's Dart. It came with a set of MSD wires and so far is working great. Oh yea, my ballast resistor story, died at the far end of the return road at Redding drag strip last year.