85 IROC TPI, usual free/low cost mods (TPIS air foil, ported plenum, K&N's, forced outside cold air, t-body by pass, no cat, bumped base timing, 92 octane, Bosch 4's, TPIS wires, new Delco cap & rotor, stock Delco coil, vette servo, tranny cooler ,etc) What will a MSD do/not do for me. Better idle & crisper throttle response? More complete combustion? Or is it bogus ? I hear both! What do you who've got one think! With no cat, I detect a bit of unburned fumes, mostly at idle...........will a MSD help it burn more cleanly? Thanks in advance! Comments, please!

 

Well this is where people call me bitter but what the heck.

In My Opinion theres many better places to throw $150 at on your car then an MSD box. Unless you have a helluva lot more mods then what you have you do not need the box. Likely you will not see any difference, and if you do it might be an extra mpg. I think most people who say they noticed a difference are tricking themselves into rationalizing the money they wasted. Buy yourself a good coil and you'll be fine for a third of the cost. Take the extra cash and start saving it for a cam or heads or better yet a 350

Only reason I could think of rationalizing the purchase on a near stock engine is to atleast get the 6AL with the rev limiter if you have a stick.

 

i agree, spend the money on a good tune up, wires or a coil

 

A sad fact i've come to realize. The guys that talk about 'feeling gains' from an MSD box, etc, are usually the same guys who don't do basics like change plugs/wires/cap and rotor, etc. So of course they feel something, it slightly covers for bad parts until the bitter end. Hell, an MSD box is easier than changing plugs, of course people want/like to run them. It's something they can say they did and benchrace with. But at the same time, they still usually have the slower cars, even with more mods.

Thats the difference between being smart with your money and effort. Or wasting your time.

 

I agree with the others. I don't think you'll notice any change. Of course throw some yellow plug wires and a wing on and you'll pick up major power, at least it works on Hondas.

 

I have first hand information on the stock HEI to MSD 6AL conversion save your money. One of the cars we race has a warmed over but worn out 350 and had the stock HEI (you know the kind where the counter weights jump over each other-really bad shape) The car was running consistant 13.5-13.6 ETs. Bought the 6AL box, MSD distributor, 8.8 MSD wires. Results: Car ran consistant 13.5-13.6 ET's. Granted the plugs were burning cleaner than before, but they never leaned out like we all thought they would. It does start quicker and idles when first started now(cut off choke horns) so that was an improvement, plus we hooked up the the three step so add on options are were possible, but for a daily driver, just have yours rebuilt and spun balanced, maybe a hotter coil, you'll be amazed.

 

Unburned fumes are probably due to the missing cat. and AIR system. I bought my MSD just for the reason of timing retard under boost conditions.

 

Well, so far , it appears that most of you feel that the stock GM HEI ignition, ( mines the coil-in-cap style) works just as well without a MSD box. I,ve got TPIS wires, and Bosch 4's now with Stock Delco coil, and new Delco cap & rotor. Has anybody with a similar set-up as this tried a aftermarket coil, and if so, could ya tell any difference ( throttle response, starting, etc,) or is the stock Delco set-up really all thats needed until you get up to some SERIOUS H.P? Thanks again, guys!

 

The stock HEI is a very underrated ignition system. It performs very well but can still use a few improvements.

Use a good cap and rotor. Use a good aftermarket coil. Invest in good plugs and wires. Do NOT use any ignition module other than a genuine GM. After that the HEI can be used easily to 7000 rpm with no problems.

The MSD and other multi spark ignition only provide multi spark at low rpms. Other than that you buy an ignition box for it's bells and whistles.

MSD 6A is just a standard ignition box. 6AL has a rev limiter that requires rpm "pills". The digital 6 has a few more options.

When I chose an ignition system for my race car I was considering the Digital 6 but bought a Holley Annihilator instead because it had the options I wanted in an ignition.

 

MY engine has seen 6800 rpm ALOT and I know that there is a difference between running a HEI , module and hypertech coil and Running deleting the module , and running a MSD 6A with the same coil. Without the MSD the enngine would begin to slightly misfire above 6400 and it got worse as the RPMS went up , I had the msd laying around (came off of my Mustang) so I Removed the module and ran the purple and green wires directly to the pickup . The box has been on and off the car several times and I can tell the difference at high rpms.

 

I agree with the other posts, it is really wasting money. Most of us don't hit 6800 rpm's ever unless the car was built to race. The stock ignition develops 35-40kv and is more than sufficient to provide total combustion as well as keeping the plugs clean. In the old days when we ran points switching over to newer electronic ignition bought us better starting and slightly better performance, but these days the OE systems are very good.

 

Really the only gain i saw from my 6A was a little bit of gas mileage. was getting almost 30 mpg when i was done on a 305.

 

well i am getting the msd 6al just cause i am switchin to carb from tbi and i need it. i was gonna go with the 6a but my cars a stick and i have alot of money in the engine so i wunt that rev-limiter

 

the msd really only helps in a wet flow manifold setup, or a n20 or blower/turbo setup.

When I bought my car i spent 500 dollars and tuned up everything that neded to be changed. The car was running awesome, i then added a 6a and instantly the idle smoothed out. It was very noticible. On a tpi system though, i say save your money.

 

I've got a 2.8 multiport injected (very similar to TPI) V6.. and since there's not much out there for my car, I've got just about every bolt-on possible. I noticed almost no difference between having the MSD 6AL with Blaster SS coil, and my stock ignition with an Accel remote computerized HEI coil. In fact, where my car used to start after turning the key for 1/2 second, it seems to take longer, almost a full second. My butt tells me the car got a little peppier at high car speed/low engine speed, but who knows?

I did experiment with the Accel coil (before the MSD box), though. With the Accel coil, I noticed more push at higher rpm's, and my WOT shift point seemed to raise a few RPM's. I think it's because the automatic tranny sensed a bit more power before shifting into the next higher gear.

So until you exhaust all your bolt-on possibilities, don't put an MSD box on. Save it for last, and put that cash towards other things that will work more. An MSD setup might do a lot for an old worn-out points ignition, but won't do much better for our HEI ignitions.

One major benefit, though- the rev limiter, and the ability to add a 2-step or 3-step box. I think, though, that you can add these to the stock HEI.

 

I guess this is my spot to take a bullet for MSD. If you are running a stock motor having the stock HEI will work just fine but if you are running a hopped up motor I'd get the 6AL to prevent over-revving and to make sure you have more accurate spark so that any gases in the chambers are burnt once the piston reaches top dead center not something you can always rely on with the stock HEI that sometimes isn't always too generous on sparking after 6000 rpms. It is proven that MSD ignitions are better than stock HEI as far as accurate spark is concerned. I dont buy all the BS about the MSD adding horsepower but it's more like freeing up horsepower because think about what unburnt gases do to a motor period. Im not by anymeans a motor guru nor do I claim to be but after 50,000 miles on a motor, check out the cylinders and the heads with comparisons on the stock HEI and the 6AL. For people that don't like to do tune-ups and think a MSD box will add horsepower maybe they should go out and buy a K&N air filter and some Fast and the Furious decals that are worth every bit of 250hp!!!

 

Well, lets see if anyone cares about my 2¢:

All my cars have been 'played' with, bad habit I guess. The thirdgen has been played with a good amount, and before the MSD I was getting about 12-16 mi/gal. After the MSD it has been running around 20-25 mi/gal. It all depends on your set-up etc. etc., however, the theory and logic behind it is sound, and it is by far not a waste of money. It will not increase performance in the sense of HP/TQ, but sometimes that is not the only thing you contend with when modifying engines.

BTW did I mention the better numbers in emissions testing for all the cars so equipped?

 

well when i put my msd on whne i had the 305... the mileage got worse.... b/c i had a stock gap (i put new plugs and wires in with the msd)... i opened the gap a little and noticed better mpg and the smell of my exhaust was a little dimished.

 

Might as well contribute that NHRA has made MSD ignitions mandatory on the Top Fuel/Funny Car cause there was extenseive testing done by the NHRA on ignition systems and they now consider it a "safety factor" cause there were little, to next to no defects in the MSD's performance as compared to Accels, Jacobs, Mallory, Holley, etc... They took it as 1 less thing that could cause a catastrophic event.