Will installing the MSD 8226 coil on a LT1 have any bad effects such as shortening the life of the opti-spark?

 

I personally do not think so, but I have heard people say that. I run the MSD 8226 coil.

 

I HAVE NOT HEARD OF A COIL SHORTING LIFE OF OPTI.I WOULD ALSO LIKE AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION :seeya

 

"Caps Lock", it is the third key up from the bottom on the left of the keyboard. ;)

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

All that Florida sun must make a man deaf. :p:

 

Installed mine 4+ yrs. ago:D .....I have never heard that one before.


[Modified by Zora, 4:47 PM 10/29/2002]

 

Well I went ahead and installed it. It does seem to idle smoother, and it seems to start quicker. I had heard those rumers and didnt know it there was any thing to them. But thanks for the input!!

 

FWIW, the coil was one of my first mods to my '92 back when it was completely stock. Still running that same coil 4 years later.

 

Upgrading the coil on '92-'95's is a good idea. It will not degrade the opti. There is a possibility that MSD 6A boxes do shorten opti life. FWIW

 

How come? I replaced my '95's coil with OEM stock. Should I have gone with MSD or other slightly hotter coil? Does it help high end power any to use a hotter coil and can you use it with the stock AC 41-906 "platinum puck" spark plugs without blowing the pucks off?

 

The reason why it may shorten the life of the opti is because below 3000 rpms the MSD actually throws multiple sparks for every cylinder. So, what happens is that if say it throws 3 sparks, inside the opti which is basically a glorified distributor the contacts will theoretically wear 3 times as fast if you do a lot of your driving below 3000 RPM's.

Is it a problem? I would be inclined to doubt that seriously. I've never known a person who's had trouble with their opti because it "wore out" from a distributor standpoint. It will fail due to moisture or some other aspect long before that will become a problem. Also remember that just exactly like the MSD allows you to run a larger gap on your spark plugs it should be able to bridge the larger gap on your distributor. So consider that after a LOT of miles the opti might degrade so that the MSD is using a great deal of it's energy to arc inside the opti rather than the plugs, but it will still run most likely.

Truth is most opti's die long before they are "worn out" so it's not gonna be a problem.

The only thing a hotter ignition system is going to do is make sure that each cylinder fires under less than ideal circumstances. If you have a completely stock engine you probably won't see much benefit of upgrading your coil or using and MSD box (or both) unless your stock coil is on it's way out. Now if you've modified your car and are running higher cylinder pressures there is the chance that the spark can be "blown out", this is what the MSD hopes to prevent. It is especially important on cars that run nitrous, superchargers, or extremely high comrpession.


[Modified by Nathan Plemons, 10:54 PM 10/29/2002]

 

The coil was upgraded to a hotter one in 1996. 1992-95's could make use of a hotter coil. Do you absolutely need to do it? No, it's just one of those things that was improved in the later model. The 1996 calls for the same plugs so no problem there.

The problems I've heard of with optis and MSD 6a type boxes is with carbon tracking in the opti cap contibuting to shorter life. The jury is still out on the Digital 6 and opti but so far it doesn't seem to have the same problems. FWIW

 

The only probably I had when I upgraded to the Blaster Coil was it fired the stock wires. I now have MSD 8.5mm wires as well.