I have a stock 87 IROC with the TPI 305 and auto tranny. I just installed new wires and Rapidfire plugs. What else should i upgrade as far as the ignition goes. If you could recomend parts as well as brands/specific models it would be greatly apreciated. Thanks for any help.

 

i like msd parts, distributor and coil would be the next logical step then maybe a 6al box, but for stock applications i doubt if you see much gain from the upgrade.

 

i recomend a hypertech cap, rotor and coil kit. i've had very good luck with them and picked up some impressive numbers for the cost and ease of installation. it's one of the few hypertech parts i use, but good stuff.

 

Most people replace their old parts with performance parts and say that they saw a huge increase in performance with them, when in reality any stock replacement would have been a huge change. I'm using msd components and I stand behind their products.

 

What I'm basically doing is replacing the stock components with hi-perfomance parts. Im not looking/expecting to gain horsepower from new igniton parts. Just to know that my ignition is doing what it needs to do the best it can.

 

MB,

From my experience, name doesn't always equate the level of quality of the product. Granted, there are some companies that offer only the top-end components, but you'll pay for those.

With the proliferation of house brands, no-names, and relabelling of products, you may never know where your parts originated. Some very big names offer some pretty marginal quality components. They also offer premium parts, but the name doesn't necessarily automatically mean you're getting a top quality component.

Conversely, I've seen some lesser known brands that have some very high quality products. Borg Warner Automotive, Wells/Conrad, Standard Plus/Blue Streak, and others offer the low-end parts as cost effective replacements, but also offer premium parts at reasonable prices. For example, they all have the cheap, $10 distributor cap/rotor sets as basic replacements. These have molded thermoset housings, aluminum contacts, thrid-world quality fasteners and terminations, etc. These same companies also offer premium cap/rotor sets, with GRP molded housings, deep insulation channels, solid brass contacts and terminations, premium stainless fasteners and springs, etc., for about $25.00. You can purchase the same thing from a "big name" ignition parts company for twice as much, but will have no better quality. In some cases, you will have repackaged parts made by the SAME "no-name" company for the "big-name" player.

Buy your parts based on features - not name recognition.