how cheap?

 

MSD coil packs do not by themselves supply multiple sparks. The mutli sparking, if desired, comes from using a different control box which is always a CD unit. The multiple sparks are spaced at 1 millisecond intervals for 20 of crank rotation in V8 engines. The 1 millisecond spacing is the recharge time for the capacitor in the control box used to power the coil primary winding. Thus the total number of sparks per cycle depends on the rpm's being achieved. At about 3.3k rpm's the multisparking ceases since the time is not long enough within the 20 degree window to provide more than 1 spark.

Unless you like the looks, using the MSD coil packs is a waste of money in any conceivable real street driven vehicle. They will provide nothing in the way of increased performance. The stock coils provide much more than enough voltage to fire any conceivable spark plug gap in any conceivable street driven and most all racing only artificially aspirated applications.

MSD and Cd ignitions in general are very popular in racing where single distributor spark distribution is used. The CD ignitions allow full voltage to be developed in the coil secondary for high rpm running.
This is achieved by charging a 1 microfarad or so capacitor rapidly through a flyback transformer to approximately 500 volts and connecting it directly across the coil primary. Without using a CD ignition you are stuck with a maximum voltage across the coil primary of whatever your alternator is putting out. For a single coil per cylinder this is of no concern. When you have to use the same coil for all 8 cylinders it becomes a problem in that at higher revs you cant develop full current in the coil primary in the time available.

All the above is probably a lot more information than anyone wants but it is an accurate description of what goes on.

BTW I am an EE with graduate degrees, a active racer using MSD products and have had many MSD ignitions apart to fix problems and make minor, usually reliability related, modifications.

 

Just what I thought. Thanks for confirming!

 

(Well, duh, of course not, there has to be an outside source of electronics to make that happen.)

(Not necessarily a separate box or unit, but just separate electronics! Physical location, who cares, in this case with the LS2 engines the design is within each coil. That's why they're expensive!)

(Yea, yea, yea, but in the case for the LS2 engines on Corvette’s, these coils have electronics imbedded inside each coil package to invoke the multi-sparks! There is no separate CD unit for these LS2 coils like on other vehicles, again, the electronics are designed within each coil package!) For all of you out there, do you know what CD means? It's Capacitive Discharge. And, what was not explained was the time constant a capacitor is designed to be charged, but also the time constant the capacitor is designed to be discharged.....guess what, both can be changed, I mean, improved to suit the need!

(Hey, that’s your opinion, not everyone else’s.)

(Wow, real scientific, you cannot make that decision for the rest of us without documented results! You should know as an EE it’s not the gap, which requires voltage to make the long jump (who cares about that?)….the concern is total energy; voltage and current that makes the difference along with the turbulent explosion within the cylinder due to the “train” of sparks that MSD offers. As a matter of fact, they do actually give you better gas mileage at worst case, I have results for myself; horsepower, well, maybe not, I haven’t noticed or seen any tests results before and after installation as far as HP, so I don’t know…..have you?)

(No $hit, but it's not just voltage, again it’s really whatever energy is being dissipated into the primary that will be transferred into the secondary; voltage and current….the levels of each at the time it fires.)

Oh really? Read the above comments.

(Ha, I agree with this!)

(LOL, hmmmmm........you're kidding, right?)

(Good for you, I also have a graduate degree in another area besides Electrical Engineering, however, I only need a few classes to finish degrees in Mathematics, Physics and Mechanical Engineering (which I'm sure you already know is not hard for us to get). You can fool a lot of people out there, but not me, so we both need to watch what we are saying here when it comes to electronics…..)




I have a large pond of water I can sell you in Salt Lake City, it’s really cheap…..)



Look, if you don't want to use aftermarket coils, fine. Guess what, no one but you cares. For everyone else.....just do your own research and make your own decisions; IMO MSD is pretty good stuff. Good luck.

 

I am not exactly sure why, but any thread I have ever read says to stay away from the MSD coils. There seems to be a lot more technical resources on the LS1Tech.com site. You may want to try submitting your post something there as well.

 

You have so little understanding of what makes an ignition system work I won't waste my time discussing it with you. You might try rereading a freshman text on LRC circuitry as a start.

Being an arrogant azz doesn't make you appear smart it just make you an azz.

 

I'm no EE, but STILL, you (Huskerbullet) haven't taught us a thing, just denied everything that's been stated, and tossed sarcasm and attitude.

 

Nice video.

BJK