just bought MSD distributor kit
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 832
Likes: 0
From: Sarasota Florida
just bought MSD distributor kit
so i went ahead and bought an MSD distributor kit today. think i got a good deal $169.50 with free shipping. i got the #6501 kit that replaces cap and rotor on stock distributor. it comes with the module and everything you need.
now the funny thing is i don't even know what kinds of performance gains i should expect from this. all i know is that i've been hearing a lot about it recently and i know that it's a good upgrade, plus i need to do something different with what i have anyway. what improvements will i see with thse systems?
now the funny thing is i don't even know what kinds of performance gains i should expect from this. all i know is that i've been hearing a lot about it recently and i know that it's a good upgrade, plus i need to do something different with what i have anyway. what improvements will i see with thse systems?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,712
Likes: 31
From: Shreveport LA
LA Events Coordinator
I tried the same combo about 3 weeks ago on my Mallory distributor. Wanted to just change the rotor, coil and cap. The combo DID NOT WORK...the rotor design prevented the advance weights to move...engine ran crappy. So I replaced the MSD rotor with the Mallory rotor but that didn't work either...that combo burned the ignition module. After spending $175 to fix it and putting it all back to the Mallory (which I was well please with to begin with...but just wanted to change/do something). My guess is...only MSD works with MSD parts....in other words, the cap, rotor and coil only will work with an MSD distributor base.....
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
Pro
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 665
Likes: 0
From: wilmington nc
If i remember right on the msd rotor the part inside that hits the weights is removable, i just poped that part out and mine worked fine. look at it closely you can take a screwdriver and pop that piece right out.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,100
Likes: 12
From: Frederick Maryland
What kind of improvements you can expect depends on how you drive your car, its state of tune, etc. If your car is already kept at an optimum state of tune you may notice little or no difference in performance, outside of maybe improved starting. You might get improved high rpm performance, maybe not. Every car is different.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 832
Likes: 0
From: Sarasota Florida
What kind of improvements you can expect depends on how you drive your car, its state of tune, etc. If your car is already kept at an optimum state of tune you may notice little or no difference in performance, outside of maybe improved starting. You might get improved high rpm performance, maybe not. Every car is different.
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
From: vt
they are extremely easy to install. only takes a few minutes to completely disassemble a distributor. but when you have it apart, i would highly recommend doing some other maintenance on your distributor. you definitely want to take the entire shaft out, and get all the old dried up grease out of the grease well, and repack it with fresh grease. you will be amazed at how much of a difference this can make. also, you probably are going to want to replace the pickup coil. the wires that plug it into the module are most likely old and cracked. i broke mine when trying to remove them from the old module, so i had to do it anyway, but it's something you can do as preventative maintenance so you don't have to do it down the road.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 832
Likes: 0
From: Sarasota Florida
so i just installed the distributor kit and fired her up and runs perfectly. it's raining right now so i'm not going to take it out for a drive. for those of you who use MSD distributors, did you use the digital signal output wire for the tach and hook it up to the wiring harness or hook it up the stock way? both ways works on mine, so i just used the green wire...
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Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 832
Likes: 0
From: Sarasota Florida
so i just took it out for a drive...it works great, no problems. can't really tell a difference though. i'll play around with tuning tomorrow. i hope it will atleast be an improvement over the stock distributor so it doesn't seem like i wasted $180.
