Electronic ignition system for road going motor

[David Tickle]

I have a fairly standard 302 Ford V8 supposed to be giving 240 BHP. It has an Accel twin point distributor and coil ignition system. I want to replace it with an electronic system with magnetic/optical sensing to get rid of the points.
The Accel distributor (sorry, I have no type number) is about 12 years old and is fitted with twin points and mechanical advance. It has no vacuum advance. The coil is a 12Volt sports coil permanently supplied from 12V and has no ballast resistor.
I want an electronic system suitable for road use rather than a high spec racing system. I have checked the catalogues of importers of USA goods, but they don't describe the systems very well and when I've phoned them, they don't seem to know the details!
Can anyone help with a system that will at least replace the twin points with maintenance free sensing and supply good strong sparks.

Regards

Dave Tickle

[Kevin M]

MSD is dominates the market, and for good reason. Check: http://www.msdignition.com/ .

The Distributor you would want is the “Street Pro-Billet” part # 8479. It has vacuum advance. The ignition module would be the MSD 6-AL which has an adjustable rev limiter. You could use one of their coils or stay with the one you have depending on it’s condition. (E-mail MSDs tech support and ask their opinion).

I hope this helps some,

Kevin

[Bill Musarra]

Dave,
I have a 1997 Hipo 302 out of an Explorer that I will be selling or parting out (it needs cleaning up a bit). It has the Ford DIS system with twin coil pack and crank and hall sensor. If you are interested I can send you some pics of the setup. It does qway with the distributor all together.
Bill

[Steve Toner]

I'll second the MSD recommendation. The vacuum advance can be removed & locked out if you want. There are lots of systems from different manufacturers, but I doubt there's more than a few % difference in them. The 8479 & 6AL (which is exactly the setup I have in my car [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]) is a good, reliable combo.

[gt40rick]

I had the same system that Kevin mentioned; MSD Pro Billet Street distributor and a MSD 6AL box. I replaced my distributor and box with an Electromotive crank triggered ignition with 4 coils. A couple of advantages of this system are that it supplies a longer duration spark with greater voltage and there is do distributor to get in the way of lowering and moving the engine forward some. Of course you will have to cut down your old distributor to drive the oil pump.

[Wayne Presley]

[ QUOTE ]
I had the same system that Kevin mentioned; MSD Pro Billet Street distributor and a MSD 6AL box. I replaced my distributor and box with an Electromotive crank triggered ignition with 4 coils. A couple of advantages of this system are that it supplies a longer duration spark with greater voltage and there is do distributor to get in the way of lowering and moving the engine forward some. Of course you will have to cut down your old distributor to drive the oil pump.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am a dealer for the Electromotive and the HPX igntion works great and you do not have to cut down your distributor as Ford makes an oil pump drive (they call it a syncronizer)for the 97 Explorer with a 5.0 motor. Other than that you can also use the MSD 8579 small diameter pro billet distributor and 6AL igntion box.

[Devin]

Here's another option...a direct bolt in replacement for your points.

Go here: http://www.pertronix.com/

Their IGNITOR product is well under $99 at almost any hotrod/mustang place or www.summitracing.com

A friend of mine recently installed one and loves it on his tricked out 65' mustang GT.

Devin

[Mike Dozier]

Dave

I have used Mallory, MSD, Accel...all offer comparable
street products...all a good choice. I would also recommend
as others have, upgrading your ignition box, since eliminating the points doesn't improve spark firing.
Cost of these is now very reasonable...less than $ 100 US
for street use, so long as you don't get fancy.
Jeg's and SummitRacing websites have lot's to choose from.

MikeD

[Fred/Belgium]

Dave,

If you are interested in a MSD SCI Sport compact ingnition box PN6300 in perfect working condition.
This is a spare I bought back in Aug but never used it (I have 2pcs)and is for sale
PLs send me a mail if you are interested.

Rgds
Fred

[Yuji]

Sorry for Newbie question. I have Malloy(?) distributor and ingnition coil(do not know manufacture) set up. Still better to replace w/ MSD Ignition and Distributor? What is the advantage for the replacement?

[Kevin M]

Yuji,

Is your Mallory a “Unilite” distributor and do you know the model number?

If it is a Unilite (Optically triggered) it is a good distributor and there would be no point in replacing it unless it is worn or has some other problem.

There is not a lot of difference between the better aftermarket distributors when you are talking street use. The Mallory Unilite uses a photocell for triggering and the MSD is magnetically triggered. Both work well for street usage. The MSD with the 6-AL box does give you an adjustable rev limiter. Mallory has a similar Ignition box called the “HyFire VI-AL”, which offers a rev limiter as well.

Kevin

[Yuji]

Kevin,
Thanks for the info, but I could not identify the model of Mallory distributor as the label removed already. How I could differenciate between optical to the other?

[David Tickle]

To all

Thanks for your replies and information. As I'm working abroad at the moment, I won't be buying immediately but it looks like the MSD solution is favourite. I have a Stewart Warner tacho, I presume I'll need an adaptor module to drive it, does anyone have details please?

Dave Tickle

[Kevin M]

Yuji,

Go to: http://www.mrgasket.com/maincat.html . Click on the Mallory Ignitions catalog and download it. You can look through and see if you can identify your distributor.

There are 3 types of triggers for distributors, Mechanical Points (Which we will assume you don’t have since you would most likely know if you had to change them regularly), Magnetic, and Optical. Take the cap off and look at the triggering unit. If it is Optical, it will have a photocell and light with a series of tabs that pass between them to interrupt the light reaching the photocell.

As long as it is Optical or Magnetic, (not Mechanical Points) and is in good shape it should be fine.

Kevin

[Howard Jones]

Dave, I have a GTD with what I believe is a steward warner tach. I used a 6AL MSD spark box and simply attached the signal input to the tack to the tach output on the MSD box. This worked fine the first time without any drama.

[Yuji]

Kevin,
Thank you for the advice. I'll check it as soon as I'll return to Tokyo. Anyway, taking the opportunity to be in Austin/Texas this week, I'll stop by a shop in Austin to have look of MSD products since the coil/distributor of my GTD looks pretty ugly (rust on coils which makes me a bit nurves although it works fine now)

[Fred/Belgium]

Yuji,

Look on ebay/us to MSD and you will plenty of orpportunities if you know what youre looking for.
I did it for my:
Distributor Pro Billiet Polished PN8579*
MSD coil Blaster SS
MSD Sport Compact Ingnition control PN6300

Good deals,full package easy to install

PS: I have one PN6300 spare in good working condition for sale at 150.00$ if interested.

Good luck
Fred

[David Tickle]

Howard
Thanks for that info

Dave Tickle

[Yuji]

Fred,
Thanks for the info. of ebay and offer. Looks pretty attractive, but I need to return to Tokyo tomorrow morning, so I puchased necessary MSD parts from the shop in Austin/Texas today to hand carry back to save shipping charge and tax in Japan. Anyway, thank you all for assistance.
Best Regards [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Fred/Belgium]

You ve got it right.Good luck
Fred