So I talked to the guy who I thought was going to dyno my truck and conversation came up about an ignition source.. Explained to him I was going to use the 6al2.. He explained to me at length to stay away from MSD. I'm new to the turbo scene, but I like to think I'm pretty well educated in the car scene. I've never heard anything bad about MSD, he stated that the box was only good for rpms above 4000 rpms and didn't work with idle-4000.

Does this sound strange to anyone? He suggested pertronix or FAST, which I don't believe either company carries a programmable ignition box.

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't know why he would have a problem with MSD, a BUNCH of us have the 6530 box, (myself included, and more folks getting them every day). I have though seriously about doing a MS computer instead of a 6530 on my truck, but mainly because I plan to go EFI one day.

 

The whole point of the multi-sparks is to get their sort of ignition working at idle and low RPM.

 

Multiple Spark Discharge (MSD) only works at lower RPM (3K and under if memory serves, might be 3,500) because their simply is not enough time to fire multiple sparks at the higher RPM, so they move to a single strong spark.

 

Not understanding his reasoning behind it. He has a great reputation in our general area. Says he takes out MSD boxes on the daily because they never work like they're supposed to. Is it weird to have the thought of taking my truck elsewhere? Don't need a piston trying to take off my head.

 

we have always had good luck with MSD products

 

I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe....I've put over 300,000 miles on two MSD boxes, and been mid nines while still sneaking up on the tune with my 6530 box.

 

That's what I thought, great company and I've never had a problem, nor heard of one.

Side note did talk to the guys from FAST today they said, they have a programmable box coming out in January. Anyone heard of this yet?

 

No matter what you buy with after market stuff, there will be things that break or won't work right. It is an imprecise hobby with lots of sales gimmicks just to sell stuff, and sometime QC is not what it should be. The MSD is multiple spark really doesn't do anything. It is an artifact of the energy storage capacitor building back up while the trigger is still there. It goes away at a few thousand RPM because trigger dwell is shorter than recharge time. But even if the multi-spark is active, it is virtually meaningless unless it is burning out a bridged plug gap.

MSD has had some reliability issues, but they are go and no go failures. As long as they work, they work well. We all have to live with this as long as the Chinese and other $2 a day labor is building our stuff.

The MSD box will work perfect if you wire it right and dress the wires correctly, unless it fails. If it fails, it will just not work. The only real problem they have is in QC. They don't have a design issue. Your tuner is just wrong.

Of course if you wire it wrong, or dress the wires incorrectly so trigger wires are near electrical noise sources, it can be a problem.

 

Well said!