ignition grief

[Rick Parker]

Make note of the colors of the stripes on the wires coming out of the distributor and which wire they connect with at the connector. Write it down.

[rokndad]

One more chiming in here.....MSD doesn't have any info about the magnetic pickup being moveable. In other words, the two stainless cap screws with locking nuts allow some movement of the pickup and magnet assembly within the distributor housing. I installed two of them and they were too far away from the eight-bladed reluctor to trigger a magnetic pulse. After three frustrating weekends, I finally set the magnetic coil pickup at about .030" gap away from the reluctor and bang!! Instant fire. Also make sure the little carbon contact inside the distributor cap is intact.

Make sure you put some RTV on the pickup so it doesn't move later. And check the gap after you've tightened down the pickup. I am really surprised MSD doesn't have any procedure detailed for this issue. Best of luck.

[undy]

Originally Posted by rokndad

One more chiming in here.....MSD doesn't have any info about the magnetic pickup being moveable. In other words, the two stainless cap screws with locking nuts allow some movement of the pickup and magnet assembly within the distributor housing. I installed two of them and they were too far away from the eight-bladed reluctor to trigger a magnetic pulse. After three frustrating weekends, I finally set the magnetic coil pickup at about .030" gap away from the reluctor and bang!! Instant fire. Also make sure the little carbon contact inside the distributor cap is intact.

Make sure you put some RTV on the pickup so it doesn't move later. And check the gap after you've tightened down the pickup. I am really surprised MSD doesn't have any procedure detailed for this issue. Best of luck.

My FE MSD Pro Billet magnetic pickup sh!t the bed on me a few months ago. The pickup came with detailed instructions, including reluctor gapping. MSD's website also has good instructions on it.. That's where I got all my troubleshooting information. My replacement pickup had enough slop in the two mounting holes that I could adjust it too far in or too far out. You have to RTV it in place too, in the instructions also.

Dave

[Ronbo]

I have to admit what I've been reading lately does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about MSD stuff...

Seems like points last longer, not to mention they have a built-in rev limiter called "contact float".

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by Ronbo

I have to admit what I've been reading lately does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling about MSD stuff...

Seems like points last longer, not to mention they have a built-in rev limiter called "contact float".

Ron,points are like Richard Simmons entering a UFC fight..what's the point?(pun intended)
MSD makes good stuff,their customer service is good to great.I have 6AL's on everything except the Cummins and my SCCA car.

[lovehamr]

Originally Posted by Cobrabill

Ron,points are like Richard Simmons entering a UFC fight..what's the point?(pun intended)
MSD makes good stuff,their customer service is good to great.I have 6AL's on everything except the Cummins and my SCCA car.

I consider this the most over-looked issue when using an MSD. People act as though you have to run an electronic dist. if you are using an MSD and nothing could be farther off base. Running a points based dist. is actually a more reliable system than most electronics for one simple reason. When used as the trigger for the MSD (which is all that part of the dist is anyway) then the points are only carrying a few milliamps and at that current level the rubbing block will be worn out about the same time the points are. When used with an MSD many things that we used to have to worry about with points are long gone. Gone is worrying about point dwell angle and gap (they just have to open and close, doesn't matter how much), gone is worrying about condenser failure, gone is worrying about point wear and deposits. While I'm at it; gone is worrying about stupid carbon contacts, gone is worrying about fried pick-ups, gone is worrying about rotor gap, gone is worrying about being able to test an electronic dist on the road. This is starting to sound pretty good isn't it? Well it gets better. With the points set-up you can bypass the MSD box with the supplied jumper wires on the road and limp home on points and condenser should the box go by by. I know what you're thinking now; "oh but the bearings and build quality of the billet dist is so much better than an old points dist” Bull ****! Now I'm not saying go get a dist from a 63 Falcon and put that puppy to the test. I am saying that there are millions of hi performance points dist around that will work just as well. For instance; on my much modified Boss302 I use an Accel dual point with only one set of points hooked up. Don't need the extra dwell from a set of duel points because they don't control coil saturation with the MSD, the MSD box does. The points just tell it when to fire. The reliability factor is just so stupid simple it's hard to ignore. When BDR687's 428 fires to life, it's going to be with an old Mallory dual point and MSD 6AL box.

Steve

[rokndad]

Undy,

You have sharper eyes than I do. I just went all over the MSD website and couldn't find anything on gapping the magnetic pickup. I re-read both the instructions that came with my MSD distributor (P/N 8594), and those that came with the replacement trigger (P/N 84661). Nothing about setting a gap. There is some info in their recent bulletins about checking the impedance or resistance of the wires, but nothing I could see about proper gapping. Where exactly did you see this info?

[undy]

Originally Posted by rokndad

Undy,

You have sharper eyes than I do. I just went all over the MSD website and couldn't find anything on gapping the magnetic pickup. I re-read both the instructions that came with my MSD distributor (P/N 8594), and those that came with the replacement trigger (P/N 84661). Nothing about setting a gap. There is some info in their recent bulletins about checking the impedance or resistance of the wires, but nothing I could see about proper gapping. Where exactly did you see this info?

Their web site's info that I used was the MSD box and magnetic pick-up trouble shooting information. After the box tested fine then I went to the pick-up. It read 100% open with the ol' multi-meter. When I got the new magnetic pick-up (a couple months ago) there were detailed instructions (including gapping) in with the magnetic pick-up. It told of the RTV'ing it in place too. I used a set of feeler gauges to set mine. Pulling the distributor made it much easier too. If you mark rotor position and distributor position exactly you don't even have to put a timing light back on it either ... if your good.. (I used a timing light..)

As to MSD's quality.. I would think their magnetic pickups should last over 10,000 miles. This seems to be a relatively common failure too. The OEMs use the same/similar technology and their's (typically) last several hundred thousand miles ... and beyond.

Dave

[rokndad]

Undy,

Was your new pick up P/N 84661? If so, MSD must have a new set of instructions that isn't even published on their website. Can you scan it or somehow show it to us, and what are the gapping recommendations from that sheet? I would really like to see this. Thx.

[undy]

Originally Posted by rokndad

Undy,

Was your new pick up P/N 84661? If so, MSD must have a new set of instructions that isn't even published on their website. Can you scan it or somehow show it to us, and what are the gapping recommendations from that sheet? I would really like to see this. Thx.

Yep, that's the number. The enclosed instructions were not on their website. I went out to the garage to look for it but evidently I pitched the instructions away. It was just one sheet. Try calling MSD's tech line. I'm sure they can fax you a copy or maybe point you to a download.

Dave