MSD Questions

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whitey

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OK, I know there have been a few people to ask questions about hooking up their MSD box.

I have the orange and black wires running to the coil. The white wire is to run to the old (-) wire for the coin, now the small red is suppose to run to switched power, is this the old (+) coil wire (according to the diagram)?

The ballast resistor, can I leave this off the car or do I need to run with it?

Any help is appreciated.
 
Do not run your MSD off the old coil positive wire. I have been running mine off of a 4 post ballast resistor. I connected the small red wire to one side of the ballast. The white wire is connected to nothing in my system. Go onto the MSD web site, and you can download instructions.
 
This may help! Got it from another member and I have had "no" problems at all.
I run without the ballast resistor now! My distrubutor is electronic. Here's a diagram of my setup. BTW...The (blue/brown) wires are from the ignition switch.

MSD Drawing.jpg
 
Whitey, the white wire is used with a points distributor or a ready to run electronic distributor (one with three wires) where it would connect to the wire coming from the distributor that would have connected to the - on the coil.

If you are using a mopar electronic or some other electronic that has two wires coming from the distributor you use the green and purple and the white is not used.

The small red wire needs to connect to switched 12 volts. If you use the blue wire that used to connect to the + of the coil you can remove (but do not have to) the ballast but you need to put a jumper wire in it's place. The reason is the up stream side of the ballast has power when the key is on but not when the starter is cranking and the brown wire on the coil side of the ballast has power when the engine is cranking but not when in the run position. The MSD needs power in both conditions.

The MSD instructions are quite clear and you should follow them, if ou don't have them they can be down loaded from MSDs web site.
 
I'm using my stock distributor, electronic. I have the MSD 6A and I have the instructions. According to A-body Joes diagram, the small red goes to the origional coil (+) lead, does that mean splice into the origional wire, Is that switched power? and use the green and violet harness?

69signet, the brown/blue wires from ignition, is that the ballast resistor?
 
Whitey...to your question...no! there just all wires going to one joining point! The brown/blue wires from my ignition "use too" go to the ballast before it was removed. BTW, I once used the 4 pin ballast, then changed to the 2 pin ballast. When I got my 6a...I rip all that old electrical spider web out and started from scratch.
(made it easyer and ya can see what your doing)
I understand what the guys are saying above in the all the threads. I had mega questions and got back "mega different" answers as well. Some guys will/do run with a ballast just in case their box blows and they can make a quick swap back. dgc333 is correct on his write up about cranking power and run on power. I contacted MSD and they stated Chysler can be a pain due to different years and different ignition systems and; .."depending" on the set-up you may have a problem that once the car turns over and starts it may die as soon as you" let the key off as explained. MSD told me to give it a try as it would be safe "as per" my diagram.
As I stated..I did un-wrap the old wires, confirmed placement of new ...and she flashed up first time no problems.
Keep us informed!

PS The "MSD" drawing didn't work for me as per Joe's upper drawing "because" my ignition had the two power supplies (brown - cranking) and (blue run-on) from the ignition....
 
You need a voltmeter and find which wire or wires are 12 volts when the key is in the run position. The heavy pos & neg should be run straight from the battery. The resistor can go in the trash can. If theres more than 1 wire that is "hot" when the key is in the run position either use it for your choke or taped them up and tuck them neatly away. Oh, if U use the key to crank the motor--I have a push button switch--then both the cranking and the run wire needs to both go to the red wire. Forget sometimes. I keep the push button switch under the dash, out of sight, just in case somebody graps my keys and jumps in the car, ha ha. Motor goes click click like the battery is too weak--hey you never know.

I like using MSD noise filter on the heavy wires but then I believe the 7al or the 6 digital boxes are the only ones worth using, with the 7al my first pick.

Sometimes the voltage reg runs from the resistor but theres no need, it just jumps over and does not use the resistor. Guess I don't mind cutting and re soldering and running new wires as needed. Its 2008 now, Mopar stuff is history or for 30 year old gasoline which is never coming back. The 6 series boxes are EPA approved so right there it tells you the spark is weaker than the 7 and higher boxes.

I ran the 6 box for years and notice a big difference how the motor ran cold once the 7 box was on, lets just say I won't touch another 6 box again unless the car needed to pass smog testing.
 
I don't care if I need to run the ballast resistor in (sarcasm), the diagram from MSD states the wire connects "from the origional coil (+) terminal".

OK, I REREAD THE POSTS! Especially Dave and Joe's and it smacked me right upside the head. Thanks guys. following the diagram for electronic distributor in Joe's post and reading Dave's post, run the small red wire to the old (+) coil wire (dark blue wire), leave the white wire alone, run the violet/green harness to the distributor wires but don't connect to the main harness.

To add fuel to the fire...once you guys installed the MSD, did you leave the orange box/wire installed?
 
To add fuel to the fire...once you guys installed the MSD, did you leave the orange box/wire installed?
Click to expand...


stock style ignition?? i always cut that out for a cleaner look.. but some guys keep it as an back up
 
whitey said:
I don't care if I need to run the ballast resistor in (sarcasm), the diagram from MSD states the wire connects "from the origional coil (+) terminal".

OK, I REREAD THE POSTS! Especially Dave and Joe's and it smacked me right upside the head. Thanks guys. following the diagram for electronic distributor in Joe's post and reading Dave's post, run the small red wire to the old (+) coil wire (dark blue wire), leave the white wire alone, run the violet/green harness to the distributor wires but don't connect to the main harness.

To add fuel to the fire...once you guys installed the MSD, did you leave the orange box/wire installed?
Click to expand...

Orange box is history!!! Not required (unless you have an "emergency setup") if your MSD fails! (More laying around wire just means "ugly")...:) unless, your into track racing or you don't trust what ya bought!!
 
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