I'm planning on getting a MSD 5, and blaster 2 coil. I think I know how to hook it up, but have a few questions. I'm planning on getting the harness but I'm wondering exactly how it works. I can't seem to figure this image thing out, and the MSD site completely sucks so I'm gonna hafta do this the old fashioned way...
MSD's site
---> products
--->automotive
--->coils
--->blaster GM coil
click on the wiring diagram in the bottom left corner

sorry for all that

now, will that harness work with the MSD 5, and can I then just cut the connector off where it goes into the factory coil and hook those two wires to the blaster coil?

Thanks guys

 

I'm not running the MSD 5, but with the 6AL and the wiring harness for the GM blaster coil, I just took the wiring harness and pluged in all the plugs that the diagram on the MSD installation instructions that came in the box showed. Also, I didn't have to cut any wires or anything. I did have to cut the rivits off that held the old coil on the mount though. Other than that, it should all basically be plug and play.

Hm, this picture http://www.msdignition.com/images/gmdiag.gif Actucally makes more sence when you have the stuff in front of you.

I think the hardest part was finding a spot for the ignition box itself. Also, I really didn't notice any huge difference in performace except in top end rpm's. Like about 4k and higher I noticed an extra slight difference in pull. Also, the idle went a tad smoother and it sounds a little more throaty.

Good luck,
-Dan

 

Yeah, what Dan said. Hey, where did you mount your box??

 

Heheh,
I decided to delete the window wash box and mount it there. My box is located on the drivers side basically right where the window wash box was on the fender. Seems to work really good there and keep cool. I'm thinking of someday finding a smaller window wash box to mount somewhere else. I rarely drive the car on wet days and I figure that's what the gas station window wipe things are for. Heheh.

-Dan

 

did you have to do any extra hook up/procedures for the tach wiring?

btw, parts strores carry small containers for coolant catch cans, you could use it for the window wash fluid

 

Hm, I'll keep that in mind for the tank.

With the tach wiring, nope. Didn't have to do a thing to get it to work. The harness takes care of it all I noticed. Was really simple. When I first wiried it up, I was wondering about it too, but the harness takes care of it all. I think the tach signal from the harness actually comes from the ignition box itself, but I never looked into it when I got it working, so I'm not too sure.

-Dan

 

You don't need to cut the MSD harness for the blaster 2 coil. The MSD harness is two parts- one "big" connector that looks like the top of our original spark coil; and one "small" connector that looks like a factory coil connector (the gray one). The box gets hooked up to the car by the "big" connector. The box then has two wires coming out of it for a coil hookup. If you wanted to use your stock coil again, you'd use the "small" connector to do that.

For instance; I used the Blaster SS coil, on an MSD 6AL box, with the MSD wiring harness. (Allows me to unplug my MSD system and plug the stock coil back in as a trouble shooting aid.) I only used the "big" connector from the MSD harness. I threw the "small" connector in the garage somewhere... not using my GM coil, so I didn't need it to hook up my blaster coil. I'll attach a pic of my coil mount; you'll see the wires that come straight off the MSD box going right to the coil. Oh and the coil bracket isn't bolted to my heater/condensor box- the two silver bolts you see go to a thin piece of steel that's perpendicular to the main coil mount, going "left-to-right" inside the heater/evap box.

As for mounting, I did sorta the same thing, but backwards. I dumped the coolant tank and put my MSD there. It sits "sideways" as you look at the engine from the front bumper. I made a bracket out of 1/16" steel that sits the lower bolts "up" off the strut tower. I bolted the top bolts (nearest to the strut mount) right to the tower.

I used a little coolant reservoir out of JC Whitney that has been cracked for oh, the past 3 or 4 years right where my overflow hose connects to it. And I never mounted the bugger either; it's held with safety wire to my coolant reservoir. I should really fix that, eh?

I left my tach hooked up in the same spot I had it before the MSD box- soldered to the black/white wire on the gray connector of the ignition coil. The tach still works fine; I didn't bother to move it to the MSD's special "tach output" terminal.

 

So in that diagram, the orange and black wires would go to the terminals on the coil from the msd box

the orange and black in the harness don't get connected, the smaller clip doesn't get connected, The heavy black and red go to ground and battery respectively
the big clip hooks in, and the red and white wires on the harness go to the red and white on the box
then the plug wire would go from the coil to the distrib.

I think I got it now

 

hmmm.. good idea! I never use the washer fluid anyway...

 

Yep, you got it, Damien! I wired the MSD positive to my starter (remember that I put my box on the passenger side, my battery's on the driver's side), the same big terminal that takes the battery positive cable.

 

hmm that might have been what i didn wrong
i left the msd5 to the ignition even after installing the msd blaster coil o well it still ran alot better then it does with it not there

but then looking at the pic again.....the one i have is differnt its for the dual plug connector that my car has

 

That's what I did except where I ran out of positive wire, I took the next gauge up, crimped the two together and housed it up in some wire housing to the battery terminal junction block next to the battery. MSD box on the drivers side, batt on the pass.


-Dan

 

Heheh, that's pretty funny. I was looking around for awhile then decided that was a good spot for it. Right on.

-Dan

 

Someone tell me that these MSD boxes do something for our V6's. I mean if I saw a dramatic change in fuel economy I would be like hmm this could be worth it or more low end torque, something. As for you guys getting rid of your washer fluid or engine coolant overflow tank that is definitely interesting. I think if I were to mount one I might even consider the underside of the hood. How hot do those MSD boxes get anyways if they have no airflow? I'd almost be tempted to mount it inside the car if I bought one.

 

Welp, I just did an "initial" hookup/test run of mine. It works :lala:

The car idles a lot better, exhaust doesn't smell as rich, and runs better @ 15mph, housing speed limit. The wires on mine have about 8 feet or lead on them so, giving the current visual of the box Yes, it lives , I'm going to see if I can mount it inside somewhere, or at least out of site


edit: as for underside of hood, NSD recomeneds nort mounting them upside down, that way if any moisture does get in there, it can drain, & not sit & corrode anything inside the box.

 

I've noticed more in the gas mileage area and upper end pull in the top rpms (4k - 6k). Yet, for city driving I get a lot better gas mileage. Yet, I tend to have a lead foot so I still use a lot of gas anyway. Also, when I pop the hood after cruizing around, the box tends to be nice and cold, not like overly warm or hot even, just mildly warm if that. I think it gets most of it's breeze from the air that creeps past the head light housing and cools it that way. Thinking about it (been awhile though), I think I noticed a little more pull on low end torque, but really noticeable in the upper end like I said before.

-Dan

 

ok...I'm an idiot
I didn't realize the msd 5 and 6a boxes were so different, or that I was actually getting a blaster gm coil and not a blaster 2 coil

with that said, the blaster 5 box has red, white, orange, and a black wire....the black wire however is about half the length of the other three, all 4 are around 18 guage also.
So is it
1. All wires go to their spot in the harness, and I don't worry about the battery or ground.

2. the red, white, and orange wires go into the harness and the black is a ground

3. The white and orange wires go into the harness and the red and black go to battery and ground respectively.

 

I found it....
Turns out black goes to ground
red goes to the orange and red in the harness, white goes to white, and orange goes to black.

I never woulda figured that out