I have a 390 that have had sitting around for a couple of years now waiting for body work to be complete. When I last had it running it ran pretty poorly. It was all due to ignition issues and wiring.

I am re-wiring the entire car from scratch. That should take care of that issue. Now as for the components for the ignition I have a MSD blaster coil that I think it OK. Its the blue one. I have a digital 6 plus box and pro billet dizzy and a BMT box that piggy backs on the digital box for boost timing control.

I bought some parts used and others new. To be 100% sure everything is in working order I was thinking of sending it ALL to MSD and have the setup tested as a complete system. Do you guys agree this is my best/least expensive course to take or should I sell the stuff "as is" and buy something else NEW?

All advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

 

That should work fine. All i ran was stock tpi distributor with fresh ignition module, some brand hotter coil cant remember if it was accel, msd, or what. I ran mallory 685 ignition box wired into stock tpi distributor harness wiring using their plugn play adapter harness.

Nothing to complicated. Ran cold spark plug gapped at .028 or so and mallory 8mm wires i beleive.

That was all good to 800 hp or so. Never pushed higher

 

IGN parts, AlWAYS buy new.

 

If the stuff tests fine then no reason not to use them

 

Used is fine. Try to stay away from china hei modules in general, but in your case it doesn't matter because the module is just being used for the pickup/timing signal.

I would look up or talk directly to MSD about the coil. Get the best one (L & R) that the ign box will fire without burning up.

I think the stock GM HEI stuff is good. The 96+ vortec dizzy coil and module are really good. I just measured a stock small cap HEI coil and the vortec coil. The vortec coil is capable of twice the spark energy at higher rpms, but has to be accompanied by the vortec module. Overall, get the best coil that your ignition box will fire. Not sure what the blue coil you have is. Got a part number? Is it considered a match to the MSD box according to MSD?

You can wire it up out of the car to test it, or test it in the car. Spinning either the dizzy shaft or housing to make the the module see a tooth will make the plug fire.

Better ignitions can run a larger gap. Gives a better idle and allows for leaner burn. At the same time makes it harder to light the mixture in high compression/boost.

 

If you have this coil: Part No. 8252.
Between the HV ign box and that coil, you have enough spark energy to light up the moon.
I would run a gap of .045" with that setup up to around 30PSI of boost.
That is a nice setup. If you do test it yourself. Becareful to stay away from getting zapped.
Ensure that someone didn't wire the coil so that it is getting 12V still AND the MSD 400v.

 

I'm running a Crane Hi-6 ign. box with the Crane Fireball coil ran to the DynaMod. I also had the 369 module in the distributor as well and I'll probably go back and test between the two which is better.

Currently running a .026 gap with a 8 degree plug. I'll adjust as needed but I just pulled out 7 degree plugs and .032 and the top end wasn't very smooth and spark plugs were reading hot. So, going to an 8 and .026 to see if that helps the top end. I'll report back with my findings. This is all on a 383 Procharger setup at 6 psi that I'll be taking up to 8-9 psi before long.

 

I am using this coil:
http://www.msdignition.com/Products/...Ignitions.aspx

The dizzy has some rust in it so that is one of the reasons I want to get it checked out. The digital box was bought new. the BTM box was bought used. I have sent it to MSD already and they said it seems fine. But in my car, it wouldn't work when it was hooked up. I have to disconnect it and run just the digital box to get the car to turn on.

I was in the middle of buying a house and getting married, so about a year later I am finally getting neck deep in the build again and this time around I want to do EVERYTHING right. Double checking everything and so on.

I guess I will send everything to MSD to get it checked out. If they say all is OK, then I will throw it in the car when the time comes.

Nice to know you guys are getting good results with stuff that is way closer to stock. I know stock stuff is sometimes better that aftermarket, but I think keeping everything MSD should be OK for my F1 procharged 390.

 

Is there any other system out there that is more simple for boosted applications? So that I wouldn't have to run two boxes?

I feel like the BTM box type of market is very limited... What do people do when the don't run a box like that? Just pull a lot of timing all the time?

 

Your blow thru carb still? being carbed you could lock timing but then that sucks for everything else off boost.

Mallory hyfire 6 685 box had boost timing retard built into the ignition box so all in one type deal

 

If you are blow thru carb you should sell that msd 6 box and get a programmable msd 6al2. It uses a map sensor to pull timing and is very easy to use. Has 3 rev limits built in and a timing based launch control. I was in your same shoes with a msd 6 and a piggyback btm and i am glad i switched

 

Does it come with a MAP sensor? I am blow thru carb so I don't have a FI system to tap into for sensors.

 

Just got off the phone with MSD Tech line. They say the 6AL-2 does not have a boost retard feature. Maybe if I was running F.I. I could use that box. No idea.

They do have a 6AL-BTM box. Slightly less powerful than my digital 6 but it doesn't need the piggyback BTM box. Would be nice to have one box, but I don't know if I want to downgrade the box, cough up more cash and go thru all the trouble...

Maybe I will just keep the current stuff I have and get it all checked out by MSD and move on. If they say it all checks out, then I will have nothing to complain about.

The rusty dizzy I have might be better off just being replaced by the summit racing mag pickup dizzy, it is only like $135. Really not bad, just don't want the quality to drop, but after an MSD unit rusted so bad, I am ready to try something else.

 

http://mallory-ignition.com/hyfire-v...on-system.html

Look into the mallory

 

Pricey,

Do they sell the mao sensor?

 

They have a map sensor you can buy for it.

Mallory lists high on site. Summit has em for 317. Not bad

 

You need the msd part # 6530 this is the one i have a i bought a $24.00 3 bar map off ebay and plugged it in. Whoever you talked to at msd should have pointed you to this box.