I have a quick question. I have been watching on TV this program called "Full Throttle" in which two teams fix up old muscle cars and then go and race them. The winner keeps both cars. Every project I have seen they install MSD ignition. I am thinking in installing that in my Camaro as well. Since I have never done it before I am a little worried about compatibility with our cars. I am sure they can be installed and of great benefit but I am just concerned that I may have to make some wierd electrical modifications in my car. I do not want to fool around with the electronics in my car too much. I am looking for something that just wires directly with my current setup and will work right away. My 305 tpi engine is all stock. My distributor has the traditional ignition control module where two connectors go in (I don't what these cables do, would somebody let me know?). Ayway, will an MSD box be compatible with my stock stuff or do I need to make any modifications?. If so, which is the best MSD ignition for my type of car and how is the wiring done?. I am sure somebody else have posted this question before but I haven't been able to find an answer to this question in all the searches I have performed. Thanks.

 

It's of really little to no benifit to a stock motor. For the price of a 6A or 6AL, you could almost buy a pair of heddman headers and y-pipe and get alot more 'bang for the buck'.
It was the last item I added to my 'bird and the biggest result was quicker starts and about 1-2 more mpg on the highway.

It is compatable with all stock stuff but, would be benificial to upgrade the coil as well along with wires, cap, rotor and new plugs (shooting you over the price of headers).

There are wiring diags available on the MSD website as well as a 'plug-n-play' adapter harness for GM cars ($20 or so) for a 'no brainer' install.

MSD is most likely paying some descent advert $$ for their product to be used evertime too. Product placement is not free.

Just my opinion though...

 

I would stay away from the 6AL. I've had several of them fail on me over the years on different vehicles. The 6A is rock solid, but the technology is very dated. If you plan to modify the car further in the future, especially if you want to run N20 or a blower, you'de be better off with one of the new digital systems like Holley's Avenger

I agree that you won't notice any "seat of the pants", or even observable ET/MPH improvements with an aftermarket CD ignition. You will get better MPG, and cleaner emissions though. You will also get better RPM potential. The stock HEI starts to have spark scatter issues above 5,000 RPM. Fords run into this problem as low as 3,500 RPM when you start to modify them! The GM module is a much better design than the Ford one, so you're fairly lucky starting off. I would definately recommend going with a full ignition upgrade if you do decide to install an aftermarket one though. CD box, cap, rotor, wires, and coil should all be replaced. Inspect your plugs. If they are good you can regap them a little wider (.055" or so), if they are worn replace them.

The module in the distributor is a soid state circuit that handles some of the stuff that used to be done mechanically in the old days. Originally mechanical distributors had vacuum advance, mechanical advance, and points. The two advances handled the advance curve based on load and RPM. On a TPI or TBI car the computer handles all of that, and adjusts the signal to the module accordingly. The module also handles breakering the spark signal to the coil. Effectively telling it when to fire and how long to charge (saturate), in the old days they called this dwell (it was a measurement of how long the points stayed open). The pole piece and field coil in the distributor plug in to the module and tell it how fast the engine is spinning and what cylinder is ready to fire. It's all a cooperating system that does a very effective job of handling ignition duties on a stock or even lightly modified engine.