This last weekend, while waiting in tech line out at the track, my MSD 6AL gave out. I want to use this opportunity to switch to a different setup. The distributor I had was borrowed, so the price of a new one of those and another 6AL is way more then I want to spend right now. What are your suggestions? It has to have mechanical advance and the ignition box has to have the potential to pull timming under boost. Any suggestions would be a big help.





Thanks

Jake

 

Have you looked into that summiit box and distrib....it has all kinds of features and its cheap esp if your on a budget and its just an occassional track car

 

FWIW. I kept it simple. I use the mopar chrome ecu with 15* initial and 10* in the distributor for a total of 25*. All in by 2000 rpm. Then use the vaccuum advance to pull in another 16* for economy. The vaccuum advance is connected to the ported fitting on the carb. To keep the boost from pushing on the vac adv I put in a tee and a check valve to let the boost out. Since I only run with one tune (91 octane) it works for me.

 

The Summit ignition parts are right there in price with the MSD stuff.

You pull 16 degrees out with the vacuum advance? How'd you get it to retard and not advance? I wanna stay away from the vacuum advance anyways. I just wish mopar or one of the nock off company's made that set up with a mechanical advance distributor.

I've been looking at the Mallory Unilite MAA-3757901. It's a stand alone unit. Anyone ever used it? It's about $100 cheaper then the MSD E-curve.


Thanks
Jake

 

The beauty of vacuum advance is that it only advances under vacuum. It just "retards" to the mechanical advance that is limited to 25*. Personally I would run the new MSD 6al II. Probably a little pricey but hard to beat. All you need for a dist is a locked out stocker or a lean burn unit.

 

For options that have boost retard and are cheaper than an MSD-6BTM (the built in boost retard version of the 6AL), there aren't many good options. An MSD 5462 can retard timing under boost and works as an ignition module, but I'm not sure if it's hot enough here. You might be able to have a distributor guru modify the vacuum advance on a stock Mopar distributor to do boost retard and then pair it with a the cheap Summit CDI box.

We do have an option of our own, but it's not for everyone as it involves a bit of soldering and computer work. You could get a MegaSquirt kit and a Lean Burn distributor, and use the MS as a substitute for a mechanical advance and vacuum advance / boost retard. Cheapest option would be to get a V2.2 board and a HEI distributor.

 

I have a MSD 5462 box. I didn't think it could be used by itself with out a 6-7 series box? I had it piggy backed on the 6AL that went bad. If that's the case I'll just pick up a billet msd distributor and be done with it.

 

Got it! I just took out the 6al and rewired the btm and waaaallllaaa!


Thanks for all the help guys


Jake

 

Goog to hear you got it going.

 

Thanks. I ran up to the store and it seemed to run fine. I was having some battery chargering issuses and I had to have a buddy come jump start the car. It was acting real funny after that. It would idle and even run fine, then die after about 10-15 secs. It would fire right back up, then do the same thing. I went and picked up a new battery, since that was the charging problem and it continued to shut off all the way home. I had to pull over about ever 100 yards and fire it back up. I was thinkin it was a bad ground but it was very consistant and all the grounds seem to be in good order. Anyone have any thoughts on what it could be? I adjusted the fuel pressure up and down and that didn't seem to make a difference. WTF!



Thanks
Jake

 

The box needs a good ground and power supply. I go directly to the battery with 10 gauge wire. I have had troubles other ways.