I have been thinking about adding a 6AL box to my 89 formula w/a 305.....is it worth the money?

 

I think so , I've been running a 6AL since 1991, and it has been great. When my car had a CARB setup, the gas mileage was really terrible, I was able to get a few more MPG's when I installed the MSD 6-AL. The only down side is, if you're ever un-luckly enough to get SHOCKED by an ignition system with MSD hooked up, MY GOD does it hurt . HTH's

Here is a good picture of it, I took it apart and sandblasted the cover and painted it to match my engine .

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88 Monte SS 355 TPI/LT-4 HOT CAM/AFR Hydra-rev/ T-56 6-Speed/1-3/4" full length headers/3" X-PIPE assembly/ 8.5" G-80 rear with 3.73 gears.
community.webshots.com/user/ssynergy
www.y-t-g.com/88monte

[This message has been edited by 88SS6SPEED (edited March 19, 2001).]

 

i have to agree

 

Yep, definitely worth it. Not only does it serve as a rev limiter, a lot of people can "feel" the extra pull in the upper RPMs. You can also use it to plug in shift lights, retard modules. The possibilities are endless. I've had mine for almost 2 years I think now. No problems. Love it.

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91 Formula
305 TPI 5speed
1LE/G92/WS6

Paxton SN92 polished kit, SLP airfoil, ported/polished plenum, March alt. pulley, Crane AFPR(43psi),Crane Gold 1.6rrs,MSD coil,MSD6AL (5400rpm limit),Holley 9mm wires,Ac delco R43ts plugs,stock chip,Ford SVO 24# injectors,Bosch O2sensor,SLP 1 5/8" headers,SLP catback,shortened shifter,3:73s w/Auburn posi,180* t-stat,JET 195* fan switch, Macewen white face gauges, Autometer gauges, Zoom hi-performance clutch.

 

theformula, you're running ablwer and i've seen you posting quastions about juice. For a forced induction application an ignition amplifier is great insurance against teh stock ignition letting the spark get blown out.
For anything short of forced induction or a heavily modifed NA engine you would be much better served to spend your money on ANYTHING except an MSD box. Your stock HEI is more than capable of lighting your fire. Any gains that anybody feels are purely from eth placebo effect. Either you get a spark, or not. If you are in tune, there is NOTHING a stronger spark can do for you.
Which relates perfectly to 88's experience. If you were really getting that bad of gas mileage your combo was either way out of tune, or EXTREMELY radical. Either way, thats why the box helped. There are plenty of people running fast carbed cars that have no problems with gas mileage.
idrag, save your $$$ for a real mod.
...ed

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Ed Maher - Moderator @ The Carb Board
92 Z28 Convertible - Quasar blue / Tan top
LB9 4L60 GU2 G80 - stock, soon to be sleeper
-=ICON Motorsports=-

- Definitely prototypes, high powered mutants of some kind. Too weird to live, too cool to die

 

It is worth it. I dropped three tenths with that mod when I had the 305. Yes, I have been shocked when my 14" air cleaner contacted a point on my dist. WOW, you really find out how much power they have!!

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1983 Camaro Z28
Goodwrench 350ci V8, Edelbrock TES Headers, Flowmaster Catback, MSD 6al and Blaster 2 coil, Edelbrock Performer intake, (Edelbrock Performer 600cfm carb.)- went back to q-jet!!! T5, 373 rear, Eibach springs, Cervin Vega speakers, Rock. Fos. Sub, Pioneer CD,
email-chris4421@hotmail.com
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"I used to be a Mustang Guy! I didn't know the power of the dark side!!"

 

The "shock power" thing reminds me of one of the funniest things my late little brother used to do...

He worked at Racing Head Service for a couple of years back in the early 80s, right when MSD came out. They had a little "demo" display they had at their counter; it had 2 carbon brushes that you could adjust the spacing, and a switch that flipped it from stock ignition to MSD. The MSD put out enough spark that one of the guys there that nobody else liked very much would light his cigarette with it to show customers. He got into the habit of not bringing a lighter to work and using the MSD instead. So the other guys snuck one of his cigs and drew a line on it with a pencil and put it back in the pack, and waited... sure enough, later that day, he went to light a cig, and damn near burned a hole in his lips. We laughed until it hurt!!!!

It was almost as much fun as wainting until somebody was leaning against the counter (glass w/metal frame) and holding a Vertex magneto up against the frame and spinning it... people would literally jump out of their skin and had no idea what had hit them. We'd do it to the street strokes and losers buying wire wheels and stuff like that.

Oh well, non-tech I know, but funny just the same.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

RB! WTF man! I just replaced this bloody keyboard. At least with Vader and BOR I put the bloody cup down, you, you just jumped me like a menopausee on a twenty year old!
But hell, it was funny!!

 

is it worth the money? depends on how fast you plan to go?

you're very unlikely to see any performance difference on a near stock vehicle in good tune, but the MSD can potentially give you gains down the road as you make more power. It also gives you more tuning leeway when running very lean mixtures or very high cylinder pressures (usually from power adders).
the MSD is not the ultimate, but does a good job for the money.

 

For what it's worth, I installed the MSD 6A and Blaster coil about a year ago. I threw the coil on first and noticed a big difference - but then, I had an old stock coil that may have been weak anyway. A few days later I installed the MSD box and felt no difference at all. Not scientific, I know, but my motor was relatively stock and I feel like it was an unnecessary mod. I think whoever mentioned that it would not do anything for a stock or nearly stock motor was correct. My home-made cold-air induction/MAT relocation made a noticeable improvement, as much as the coil or more. If I spend as much as the MSD box costs I want to FEEL the difference - I don't live at the race track. You could probably get more performance spending the money on something (anything) else, IMHO.

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87 GTA, auto w/2100 stall, 3.27 rear, L98 .020 over,Comp 269HR cam & 1.5 roller tips, ported heads, 52mm TB & airfoil, siamesed SLP runners, port matched plenum, ported intake, Edelbrock TES, AFPR, MSD 6A/Blaster coil, MAF screens, cold-air induction, heated O2, Ed Wright Fastchip.
Soon: ported/polished: Super Ram, Accel intake, Sportsman II's w/1.6 rr's - & burning my own proms.

 

Seems like it's one of those mods you take care of when you start climbing the ladder into the higher & higher priced stuff... that's why I put a 6AL & coil on mine. There's not much left that can be done "cheaply" to my motor. Previously, I only had an Accel supercoil. With it, I noticed increased pull in higher rpm's.

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

I myself went with the digital six. If you want to run nitrous or anything in the future let the box run the timing for you. Yes it is well worth it. 14.34's to 12.84's second pass on nitrous with the digital 6.

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Jamie James
1986 Iroc-Z 305 TPI
1.90 60 ft 14.15@ 95.75
1.74 60 ft 12.84@107.75 on the bottle.
My IROC:
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/jjames/homepage.htm