The Cal-look Lounge

Hey all

Am after some information

I am thinking of adding an MSD ignition system to my car but no very little about how it all works!

After a conversion with a friend he was saying you can buy a control module which is programmable and you can set it so you always lurnch at the same revs?

My car is a 2180 running 48 IDA's is it possible for me to run such a system? I have a look on the MSD website and done a little research into it, I believe I can buy the MSD distributor and then the programmable control module to suit my car but will it work on Carbs? and more importantly is it any good?

Thanks in advance John

That's all I run

Yes it works good, try to buy the matched set of dizzy, msd box, coil and leads, if you want the adjustable launch control get the msd 6-al 2 box, not the 6-al box

And it works with carbs no problem

cheers Richie

Thanks Richie

So for best results I would need

MSD Dizzy
MSD Control box 6 AL-2
MSD Leads
MSD Coil

Iv read up on there site about the 6 AL 2 and its sounds like I can program a complete run, and fine tune my engine to perfection! but wouldn't I also need fuel injection (EFI ? ) for this work 100%?  Must admit am bit confused how the system would work without some kind of fuel control via the carbs/ injector system ?

My goal is to try and get my car into steady 12's ( at the moment it runs 13.4's) Over the winter am going to try and lose some weight from the car and look into MSD ignition system to see if that would get more power from the car? (running 009 at the moment)       

The MSD box is simply adding a capacitor to store more spark energy, then being able to release that energy to create a hotter spark. A MSD box will also fire the plugs multiple times below 3000 rpm instead of a single spark of a stock Bosch ignition. There's a standard 6al-2 that uses the centrifugal advance of the distributor for timing, which can be adjusted to a degree with different springs controlling the weights/stops to control the total timing advance. Then there is a 6al-2 that is programmable in which you can have complete control over when, and how much your timing advances. I've been using an older analog 6al that I have added a rpm launch limiter to, and a Bosch 009 for about 7 years. A MSD distributor has an advantage of a larger diameter cap so that plug gaps can be opened larger before the spark starts jumping within the cap. By simply changing the ignition you probably won't notice much gain in performance. By adjusting the tune to compensate for the added/hotter spark you will notice a little. Adding an MSD ignition is an upgrade to me, but upgrades in heads, cam, or fuel system might give you a bigger bang for your buck. Another thing to consider, since the ignition box fires the plugs many more times, with much more intensity, distributor/plug maintenance will be much more frequent/critical.