Ignition Choice??

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mopowers

mopowers

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So, what's the deal?? What ignition box is best??? Which of the following do you guys prefer for street performance and why?

Orange box?
Chrome box?
Revonator?
FBO?
MSD
HEI conversion?
Other??
 
mopowers said:
So, what's the deal?? What ignition box is best??? Which of the following do you guys prefer for street performance and why?

Orange box?
Chrome box?
Revonator?
FBO?
MSD
HEI conversion?
Other??
Click to expand...

I'll put in a vote for an HEI conversion. This topic has been beat quite to death but the reasons being are reliability, affordability of parts, and size of the system. There is no ballast resistor to go out, the HEI modules are cheaper than any mopar ECU, and the output is higher, longer, and more stable. If you've got a V8, this is a sweet setup in my opinion: http://www.designed2drive.com/

PS orange boxes (new ones) have a reputation for failure...i won't trust em!
 
Trialbeast (member of fabo) makes the hei conversions and sales them. Less than a hundred bucks.
 
Do a Trailbeast, with or without his kit.. small, in some cases it can fit out of sight in stock location, very cost efficient..
 
I have MSD, but I noticed a lot more people were starting to use the Mallory stuff
 
What about a Pertronix dist and their coil?
 
i love my msd set up. i have the msd 6AL box, pro billet dizzy and the the blaster 2 coil. i like how you just run power to the box and everything just plugs in. tach included.
 
After being rescued by my wife and 2 little girls over 10 years ago I pulled my electronic distributor and orange box out and shoved back in my Mallory dual point...haven't been stranded since. Don't drive much and I believe a good hei setup is probably the way to go as setting points is more work...I'm still ok with the work...think I'll be contacting Trailbeast for a setup when messing with points gets old. Mine's just a driver too...can't speak to racing. If you decide on an orange box I've got a barely used 13 year old one really CHEAP!!
 
mopowers said:
So everyone agrees that an HEI is better than all the others???
Click to expand...

"For me" it is when you consider............

I did not want to spend several hundred on an MSD, Mallory or Accel system

I already have Mopar distributors, so all I need "is a box."

The HEI modules are readily available. Much is made of hi output coils but the truth is, even with a factory coil, an HEI produces more spark

Some side affects...........

If you leave the key on, the HEI does not draw current like a factory Mopar or Pertronix, so does not heat up the coil

You don't need a coil resistor.

I think I took into account my HP level, cost, ease of procurement and replacement, l ease of troubleshooting, and it could be argued reliability
 
No box, used a Chinese ProComp HEI coil in cap installed a real GM module in it and was good to go for under a 100. Going on 3 years without a problem.. Only thing I had to do was shave the cast iron early 360 manifold to clear the vacuum advance, engine is the 91 roller cam 360. Photo was taken during the engine install...
 
Used mallory 5 box. Never failed. 2 MSD died on me, i kept points dizzy in trunk after first died, got me home lesson learned. Hei is stable and cheap.
 
i have run the msd 6al with no problems. had a bunch of problems with the msd digital 6.

have run stock style ign using a napa box with no issues.

i bought the HEI stuff but haven't used it yet. reason i went HEI is because it eliminates the ballast and a few wires plus the HEI module can be bought just about anywhere..

in the end i wanted something reliable,simple and easy to replace parts on if i ever needed to while out far from home.

i went with this bracket http://www.designed2drive.com/ because it seemed like a cleaner install then some others i have seen. keeps a stock style dist. too so thats an easy replacement as long as you can find one while away from home.
 
With that system you still have to weld up the slots in the stock distributor to get the total timing where you want it though correct? Then adjust the springs to get the advance to come in where it should?

How does that differ from how the Pertronix distributor is set up? I'll be in the market to replace the Dart's points style distributor at some point.
 
I'm sure MSD (and others) are fine systems. But depending on what you have, they ain't cheap.
 
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