recomendations for new ignition system?
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 8
From: Sumter South Carolina
recomendations for new ignition system?
1989 - I'm about to make my switch to running a holley commander 950 for engine management and I want to make sure I have my ignition squared away also. What experience with a track oriented car do you have?
I've had a lot of trouble with coils and moduals overheating with my stock hei unit even with delco parts. Pushing to 5000 rpm usually results in some type of ignition code and dropped cylinders. I am also about to make the move to 383 big cam engine that I will drive about 500 miles in the street a year. I drive about 5-6 weekends a year at the track so it gets beat on pretty hard.
From what I read some people who drive their stuff really hard for prolonged periods have reliability problems from msd units and prefer the mallory stuff. When I look at mallory I'm not seeing hei stuff without vaccum advance. I want my commander 950 to handle all the ignition timing. I think since my cam will be agressive enough to sping to 7k rpm, I would like the multiple spark for some type of drivability on the road but I know mallory and msd both make units capable.
What are your thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions?
I've had a lot of trouble with coils and moduals overheating with my stock hei unit even with delco parts. Pushing to 5000 rpm usually results in some type of ignition code and dropped cylinders. I am also about to make the move to 383 big cam engine that I will drive about 500 miles in the street a year. I drive about 5-6 weekends a year at the track so it gets beat on pretty hard.
From what I read some people who drive their stuff really hard for prolonged periods have reliability problems from msd units and prefer the mallory stuff. When I look at mallory I'm not seeing hei stuff without vaccum advance. I want my commander 950 to handle all the ignition timing. I think since my cam will be agressive enough to sping to 7k rpm, I would like the multiple spark for some type of drivability on the road but I know mallory and msd both make units capable.
What are your thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions?
Suckin' gas, haulin' ass.
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,100
Likes: 8
From: Newport News Virginia
I am running a MSD Billet distributer with a MSD 6AL box and a Blaster 2 coil on my 89 track car. I'm at 10.5:1 comp and shift at 6k rpm. 350 HP to the wheels and zero issues with ignition. Also running 38° of total timing.
I did mount the MSD in the breadbox area to keep it away from heat.
I did mount the MSD in the breadbox area to keep it away from heat.
Last edited by Black89Z51; Dec 7, 2013 at 08:30 AM.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 8
From: Sumter South Carolina
Sounds good. Wondering why others have problems.... might be the heat, that engine compart gets pretty toasty plus ignition components get 10x hotter. Most problems I've read happen in dd cars and not track cars which is the opposite of what I expected.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 6,475
Likes: 565
From: Clearwater Florida
...... I use a small cap HEI ... MSD ... an OLD school Accel Super Coil ... and an MSD 6AL ... my car is driven a lot on the street and spends a good amount of time at the drag strip ... no issues ... except the bad batch of MSD distributor caps that ate center electrodes in hours ....... my 6AL is mounted inside the car ... they don't like heat ............... Oh , and you gotta ground EVERYTHING ! ..............
Last edited by C409; Dec 8, 2013 at 06:35 AM.
