Trying to find a location to mount the 6AL control box. Any help is appreciatted. The entire firwall on my 77 is occupied so lookiing for any suggestions.

Thanks

Rex

 

I mounted mine on the passenger side down near the A/C accumualtor in front of the side gill. I can reach in through the gill and change the pill with a pair of pliers.

Valone motorsports set one up nicely on an 80 C3. Keith moved most of the wire harnesses downward and mounted it on the firewall on the passenger side of th firewall. If I had it to do over again, that's the route I'd take.

 

Well after doing some more searching tonight. Couldn't get the box past the Air Conditioning lines. The firewall doesn't even have the space to reroute wiring (Thanks for the ideas Isosceles). The only place I can find is the front side of the fresh air intake on the drivers side. That will be a pain changing the rpm plug ins but the car just doesn't leave alot of choices. If any one else has any other ideas please step forward. I have a couple of days before I'm going to get started on the swap out.

 

There are probably differences between my '72 and your '77, but I mounted my 6AL box on the passenger wheel well above the sidevent. On '72s there is an open area there. I'm suspecting that maybe on '77s, they stuck an overflow bottle there?

 

Yes They Did!

 

Chillin I installed a MSD Dist, and 6AL box on a 75 a few week ago. I mounted the 6AL on a piece of Aluminum then mounted it on the firewall. I also made a piece to go inside the firewall so it would not break out. You can see some pics here, just go to Kenny's Vette.

MSD Box

Larry

 

Larry

Thanks, this is another one were I think 77 is a one of a kind. There is no room on the fire wall to mount anything. I can't even see a way to build stand offs to clear the exisiting stuff. Isosceles idea about the passenger side almost would work, but I can't get the box past the Air Cond. lines, higher up the overflow bottle is in the way. I think I am going to have to go on the fresh air intake just below and outside of the master cylinder. not a great place to get to but the only one I'm finding.

Rex

 

try using the search too. That's where I got my idea from.

 

I mounted mine on the RH inner fender ahead of the expansion tank. I had to extend the wires to reach that location. I do not have AC. You could always go to the front of the radiator, but you would have to extend more of the wires to reach that location.

 

Today I mounted a 6al on the divers side lower wheel well fender on the '69. I can reach through a fin and change pills. Now I'm looking for where to hookup the battery positive 12v to the msd box. If I would have installed on the passenger side it would be easy to use the + on the starter. Since I'm on the drivers side should it work to attach to the + on the alternator?

 

Wherever you mount it...make sure it's not near a source of heat and gets plenty of air flow over it. Any chance of mounting it under the dash
on the inside firewall?

Dep

 

I mounted one in a 77. It fits perfectly over the center brace for the front bumper. Buy some aluminum pieces, I think mine was either 3/4 or 1 inch, and mount the box to the aluminum. The aluminum bends easily to fit the brace. A couple of screw holes in each of the four legs and its mounted. MSD sells a shielded extension for the wire with the plug and NAPA has the correct gauge and color for the wires.

Gets plenty of cooling air. I posted the trials and tribulations of installation.

 

Thanks All

Hopefully I will have time when I get home tonight to take a look up front. Sounds like the place to go. Should have a little more room for chip replacement. Just incase the 3000 rpm doesn't stand up to the weather.


Rex

 

How often do you plan on changing the RPM chip ???? I don't think I have ever changed mine in the 15+ yrs I have a box (not the same box) in the car. 7000 chip and good to go.

 

Oh but I love hearing that wonderful sound when you hit the limiter. Sound like the pure power of a (well you know). I do plan on putting in the 7000 a l;etting it go. But just in case I would like to not add one more thing that I have to be a contortionist to work on.

 

Mounted the 6al box in front of the radiator on my 70. Stays cool, no problems.

 

for a long time just to avoid this problem.

When the idiot engine builder's bronze gear was eaten off against the cast geared cam, and before the blown head gasket was found that was the real source of the secondary problem caused by that, I changed the whole ignition system to try to fix the problem - so I used the MSD box I had had gathering dust for a while.

I got inventive.

Driver side, behind the fire wall, inside the outter fender, directly underneath where the wiper tray is is a nifty chamber that is the twin of the one air comes into for the blower on the passenger side. There is a plate on the bottom that can be removed to get access from the bottom, but you'd need long arms to make this useful.

You can get your hand down there from the top (just barely) and it is easily big enough to hold the nuts to the bolts to mount the MSD unit vertically on the other side, in front of the fire wall, under and outside of the master cylinder and above and to the rear of the side fender vent thing. (This is right at the base of the hood latch flange on that side of the car.)

I made a backing plate out of 14 ga sheet steel on the wall in that compartment epoxied to the fiberglass (similar to what I did for the remote oil filter mount.) I did not use the little shock mounts this time since they seemed to have too little engagement and the brass seemed too weak for that vertical mounting to be safe. I used instead some small bolts with nylock nuts to ensure the unit wouldn't fall off.

It took most of an afternoon to get this silly thing mounted and wired, but I can reach down and change pills and access the plug in for using any of the devices. (I really want to use that dashtop timing adjust dealy...) Splashes and heat do not seem to reach it there and it hasn't fallen off yet. (Of course the car's been broken down twice since then....)

 

i called msd.. they told me these boxes actually work best if mounted in a hot area,such as your engine compartment!!! they have done tests on this,,and thats what they came up with!! so with that in mind ,i mounted mine on the drivers side inner fender,,since the inner fender is curved ,,,i took a 3/16''x 4'' long toggle bolt(just used the bolt.not toggle) and bent it at say,, 30 degrees..then i sandwiched the fiberglass inner fender,,with a nut and washer on each side of the fender,,,making a ''stand off'' then i bolted the msd box to the threaded bolt (with 2 nuts).the other side(going the length of the msd box) is bolted directly to the inner fender,,,so in essence the bolt i used takes up the slack of the curve of inner fender,and its nice and tight,,you can see location in photo behind master cylinder---------

 

I have to throw a flag on that one. Ever since NASCAR started mounting their MSD boxes on the dashboard (which is like a magnifying glass for heat when the sun is out), they have had nothing but trouble with them. EVERYONE racing NASCAR uses TWO MSD BOXES on their cars because failure is such a common problem. They have a switch that lets them switch over from one to the other in case one box conks out.

Dep

 

I found this comment from MSD tech support forum.

"Keep in mind when mounting the box it needs to get good air circulation to stay cool."

I would have to think like any other electronics cooler is better.