Electronic ignition upgrade.

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rymor92

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I read many things on here and other forums but still trying to decide and seem a lot of info is 10 plus years old so looking for some help. I’m put my car together and now that the engine is built it actually has more compression and power than expected. 10.6:1 compression. I have decided to upgrade the ignition system.

I currently have stock mopar electronic ignition setup. No issues or anything. What is a good option to upgrade to that is reliable and won’t lose too much power or any. I’ve looked into msd, dui tri power, fbo, progression ignition, and upgraded mopar such as hyrev 7500.

I want something reliable as car will be street driven so dont want to be stranded.
 
Upgrade to the 4 wire HEI and eliminate the ballast resister. There is a guy/company (drive2design.com)who has a mounting bracket that mounts under the stock electronic dizzy to be able to mount the HEI module to the bracket. I have one that I’ll be using on my 65 273 Dart
 
I made my own under distributor bracket for the HEI module using some 1/4" aluminum plate, and added an additional finned heat sink.
If you go that route, Be sure to use thermal paste and make sure the mounting surface (bracket/plate whatever) doesn't have any high spots or burrs. You want the best metal to metal contact as possible to carry the heat away.
 
I think the 4 pin GM HEI module will work with all the stock mopar ignition components, just need to wire up the four connectors and have it mounted to a heatsink with some thermal paste. I thought about doing it, but I bought a made in usa HiRev. So I'll just wait when that fails.
 
The HEI is good, as long as you use GOOD components- otherwise it's just another Chinese ignition. Lots of dubious HEI modules out there.
IMO, you already have one of the best ignitions out there. Upgrade to a HiRev 7500 ecu and call it good.
 
Professor Fate said:
The HEI is good, as long as you use GOOD components- otherwise it's just another Chinese ignition. Lots of dubious HEI modules out there.
IMO, you already have one of the best ignitions out there. Upgrade to a HiRev 7500 ecu and call it good.
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This!!

I have the Hi rev 7500 ECU on my Stroker Magnum engine. Orange box that came with the electronic ignition swap kit failed almost immediately.

6 years, 7000 miles and counting with no issues.
 
Professor Fate said:
The HEI is good, as long as you use GOOD components- otherwise it's just another Chinese ignition. Lots of dubious HEI modules out there.
IMO, you already have one of the best ignitions out there. Upgrade to a HiRev 7500 ecu and call it good.
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Yes I thought about the HiRev 7500 with an inferno coil and larger gap.
If I went HEI it would be all new good components hopefully USA MADE too. I know it would be more money too.
 
If this isn't using forced induction or spinning to 8000 RPM, the only thing I have to add is to get the advance curve dialed in for your motor. This is one of the biggest things people overlook, and a bad advance curve leaves a lot of power on the table.
 
MadScientistMat said:
If this isn't using forced induction or spinning to 8000 RPM, the only thing I have to add is to get the advance curve dialed in for your motor. This is one of the biggest things people overlook, and a bad advance curve leaves a lot of power on the table.
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That’s where I really like progression ignition but I don’t know about the price.
 
THE HEI is not an upgrade over what you have.

Get the distributor in shape with a good curve and send it.

10.6:1 isn’t crap for the Chrysler ignition.
 
I read TONS, or should I say see TONS of threads on ignition issues. I bet 90% are aftermarket. Ignition is one thing to leave alone if it's working good. My .02c
 
The HEI upgrade is a very good upgrade for a number of reasons. You should use an E core coil [ such as MSD #8207 or similar ] to get the best out of it, as they produce more spark energy.
- HEI has variable dwell, Chrys ECU doesn't. Important for high-er rpm operation
- variable dwell keeps the coil cooler.
- any ign system that eliminates the bal res, all else being equal, will produce more spark energy
- run with 0.060" plug gaps with HEI; you cannot do that with Chrys ECU, it is not powerful enough...
 
Bewy said:
The HEI upgrade is a very good upgrade for a number of reasons. You should use an E core coil [ such as MSD #8207 or similar ] to get the best out of it, as they produce more spark energy.
- HEI has variable dwell, Chrys ECU doesn't. Important for high-er rpm operation
- variable dwell keeps the coil cooler.
- any ign system that eliminates the bal res, all else being equal, will produce more spark energy
- run with 0.060" plug gaps with HEI; you cannot do that with Chrys ECU, it is not powerful enough...
Click to expand...

Let’s clean this bullshit up.

Variable dwell is so important no one else bothered with it. I don’t care what you do with dwell, induction ignitions are RPM limited.

I can’t count the number of Chryslers I’ve seen parked on the side of the road because a coil over heated. It doesn’t happen.

If you want to get rid of the ballast resistor just upgrade to a CD ignition.

.060 gaps are magazine bullshit. I’ve never seen an engine pick up with over a .040 gap. Ever. And I’ve got enough ignition to fire a .100 gap. And most of the time with big power closing the gap makes more power. But Vizard and the rest of the magazine writers cream their shorts over.

Like I said, the HEI isn’t an upgrade. I detest them, and the garbage mechanical advance they use.
 
I run .035 just like the book says. In fact, I didn't change the gap when I made the conversion to electronic. It's like I say all the time. How many times can you start a fire?
 
I learned allot about spark plugs and gaps from my years running 2 stroke motorcycles, for one I found a smaller gap cut down on the low speed load up. There's more energy in a smaller kernel
 
Newbomb Turk said:
Like I said, the HEI isn’t an upgrade. I detest them, and the garbage mechanical advance they use.
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Plus every conversion I have ever seen looks like total *** !!!!

Original poster:
The Chrysler electronic ignition is one of the finest ignition systems ever produced, with millions and millions of miles to prove it. As long as you have good components, it will take everything your 360 will throw at it.
 
Johnny Dart said:
Plus every conversion I have ever seen looks like total *** !!!!

Original poster:
The Chrysler electronic ignition is one of the finest ignition systems ever produced, with millions and millions of miles to prove it. As long as you have good components, it will take everything your 360 will throw at it.
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Yeah and how many MILLIONS of them were used in stock eliminator? We'll probably never know.
 
What in there now is more than enough! I run a Standard lx101 in my dart sport 360. Its a hot little motor! 292 mopar purple shaft, 3.91's out back 850 thermoquad on a Victor 340 intake. 340 X-heads etc.. it's a mean machine. Doesn't miss a beat!!!
 
I’m not looking to just have a system that works. Yes as long as you have spark it will run and it will run good. But there is always something you can change or modify to get a better burn which means more efficient motor and that equals more power weather it be only 2 hp. I’ve put a lot of money in this car with a complete new drivetrain, suspension, steering, etc, to just say that will be ok as is. If I can improve the car here I’m going to. I’ve been leaning towards the dui tripower it’s it’s affordable, well known, custom curve, can buy parts at auto parts store if in need right away.
 
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