[The Big Al]

Ok, lets don't get into bashing!

I need to know anyone who is using for street use a Ignition box with long term success.

The only exception is "NO MSD" Sorry to say this is my 3rd unit in 4 years! Digital #6520 I don't trust them anymore, 300.00 every 2 years is not going to work.
PLEASE DON"T POST "I HAVE MSD UNIT FOR XXX YEARS"

I am leaning to a Mallory or Crane unit.

I need a unit with timing retard and works with a magnetic pickup.

thanks
Al

 

[fossilrunner]

I actually tried mallory with my new setup and so far im impressed. I love this thing and with all the controls digital its real easy to change settings. heres a link to the one I went with. http://www.malloryperformance.com/P...jID=534&minID=5342&selection=3&minselection=1
It has start retard, and retard for nitrous. Do you need to be able to retard or advance the motor from the box and lockout the distributor? if so they do make an external controller.

 

[The Big Al]

I actually tried mallory with my new setup and so far im impressed. I love this thing and with all the controls digital its real easy to change settings. heres a link to the one I went with. http://www.malloryperformance.com/P...jID=534&minID=5342&selection=3&minselection=1
It has start retard, and retard for nitrous. Do you need to be able to retard or advance the motor from the box and lockout the distributor? if so they do make an external controller.

I was looking at that unit and the 6865M

I have used a lot of Mallory on marine units without any issue!

 

[69Proof]

For what it's worth I have always used Mallory products as they have Never let me down.
I've always used a Unilite distributor...had one in my My 71 G.M.C. for 16 years.
My Nova has a Mallory Hyfire 6AL box although it does not have timing retard it has proven to be reliable under the hood in this Godforsaken central valley heat...
I drive my car 60 mile a week and if the ignition box ever craps on me I can run without it...hope this helps with your decision

 

[Twisted6]

I feel your pain on the MSD I had one i bought and it sat for a yr before I got to use it I start the car like 3 times. and it crapped out, It cost me to have it rebuilt almost as much as a new one So before I ever even used it I sold all of the MSD stuff i had.And i have heard of others haveing issue like you. So not for me. I'll stick with mallory or cranes stuff.

 

[Paul Wright]

What's with all these poor quality hot rod parts these days? Do companies really believe that they can cut corners and no one will notice?

I guess it's like if you buy a VCR for only $88 and it lasts 2 years, you are going to toss it out and buy another.
Trouble is ignition boxes aren't that cheap.
I don't think the MSD box design is inherently bad. I would guess the components they make it with (capacitors, transistors etc.) are suffering from poor quality control.
It's getting virtually impossible to buy parts not made in China.

 

[walkerjay]

what's a VCR?









j/k

 

[74 hatchback]

Not bashing MSD but i heard there units lately all die, had my msd6a since 1993. next round it will be back to stock hei or mallory if i have the money.

 

[D-Man]

What's with all these poor quality hot rod parts these days? Do companies really believe that they can cut corners and no one will notice?

I guess it's like if you buy a VCR for only $88 and it lasts 2 years, you are going to toss it out and buy another.
Trouble is ignition boxes aren't that cheap.
I don't think the MSD box design is inherently bad. I would guess the components they make it with (capacitors, transistors etc.) are suffering from poor quality control.
It's getting virtually impossible to buy parts not made in China.

Most if not all of their automotive manufacturing has moved south of the border. You and I both know how bad heat is on the components so just imagine a facility that has a hard time regulating the temps in their solder baths.

Big Al,
I'm looking at the Mallory stuff myself. I've used them before without issue in the past.
I'm little worried about the Crane stuff since the company might not be there.:no: Otherwise I know a few people running their stuff without any problems. We'll see....

 

[The Big Al]

What's with all these poor quality hot rod parts these days? Do companies really believe that they can cut corners and no one will notice?

I guess it's like if you buy a VCR for only $88 and it lasts 2 years, you are going to toss it out and buy another.
Trouble is ignition boxes aren't that cheap.
I don't think the MSD box design is inherently bad. I would guess the components they make it with (capacitors, transistors etc.) are suffering from poor quality control.
It's getting virtually impossible to buy parts not made in China.

Paul thats the true 300.00 question!

Reminds me of the old Corvette C3/C4 owners.
Quote"I love my Corvette!" They don't tell you they have to fix something every weekend to drive it, but they love it!

And the word is getting around and living on the coat-tails of quality past will destroy a company. In todays world without disposable income, quality for your dollar is more important today!

 

[Vin63]

Big Al, where do you have your ignition box mounted (in the driver compartment or in the engine bay - near a source of high fluxuations in heat)? Doing any welding on the car with the box still in the car?

The reason I ask is because those were the two most common customer issues I had with failed ignitions - independent of brand.

 

[bowtie0069]

Have you ever tried one of these?
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/holley_bracket_racer_ignition_system/index.html

I have the actual unit used in this story, it was on the car for only a few days before Steve went back to his standard ignition--too many bells and whistles for him.

 

[The Big Al]

Big Al, where do you have your ignition box mounted (in the driver compartment or in the engine bay - near a source of high fluxuations in heat)? Doing any welding on the car with the box still in the car?

The reason I ask is because those were the two most common customer issues I had with failed ignitions - independent of brand.

Mounted under fender in the battery OEM battery location.
No welding.

Al

 

[The Big Al]

Decision made!:yes::yes:

Mallory HyFire VI Part # 685
Picked up just a hour ago. (nice to have all these performance parts places around!)

 

[1quik69]

Here is the unit that I put back into my 69. We ran this for about 7 years in our old 74 Nova. Then we packed it away for about 10 years. When I went to fire up my 69 for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It fired first time. I have run several Mallorys over the years with no problem. I am running the Unilite distributor also.

 

[6NOVA4]

Ok, lets don't get into bashing!

I need to know anyone who is using for street use a Ignition box with long term success.

The only exception is "NO MSD" Sorry to say this is my 2rd unit in 4 years! Digital #6520 I don't trust them anymore, 300.00 every 2 years is not going to work.
PLEASE DON"T POST "I HAVE MSD UNIT FOR XXX YEARS"

I am leaning to a Mallory or Crane unit.

I need a unit with timing retard and works with a magnetic pickup.

thanks
Al

Hey al what did it not do? was it not starting? what were the symptoms?

 

[The Big Al]

Hey al what did it not do? was it not starting? what were the symptoms?

Nothing is *** it was doing.

Wait a min, Smoke was rolling out both ends! Yea, that's what it was doing!

AL

 

[tbills66]

LOL

I have lost an MSD box in the past but have also seen them run for a super long time. I had mine rebuilt and since have had no trouble. Knock on wood.

I have not heard any bad reviews of the Mallory box. I have looked at them myself incase mine was to lay down.
Let us know how the box works for you. I believe ARCA uses or used the mallory ignition boxes in the cars.

 

[Glenn]

Al,
I have 3 Jacobs Ignition Systems, all on different street cars.
One has been going for 11 years, one for 6 years and this last one is 2 years.
They have worked flawlessly.

Now, Prestolite (the company that owns the Mr. Gasket Group) bought the Jacobs Company a year or so ago. It's my understanding that they have taken this technology and applied it to there Mallory and Accel branded Systems. When I look at both branded systems, the Accel Systems resemble the Jacobs more than the Mallory Systems. Of course, this could mean nothing. I do know that if you open the Jacobs Electronics web page, it takes you directly to the Accel Ignitioin page, which would make me believe that is where the product technology went.

For what it's worth, I spent the last 25 years working in the Performance Racing Aftermarket ( just had my posistion eliminated thanks to the economy) and worked NHRA & IHRA & Nextel/Winston Cup events most of that time. I have witnessed more MSD box failures than I could begin to remember. I know for a fact that many of the quickest and fastest teams around the country had MSD boxes that where gutted and ran Crane or Jocobs internals ( yes, read this as custom boxes). I knew Chris Jacobs personally, and he is a very sharp man, next to a genius. I also knew the guys that where behind the Crane systems, and they too where in the same category. Because they were fighting a continuously up hill battle in the marketing wars with MSD, there was no way they were gonna win.
Sad, but true.

 

[Nova_Guy]

After pulling my 3 year old XXX brand distributor out that looked like it is 100 years old that had never spent a night outdoors convinced me that XXX was no longer the way to go.
Even after someone here explained how ignorant a bunch of us are about aluminum I don't think it was my fault. Go to XXX site and search for corrosion and see what I mean. When mine dies it's all going on Craigslist if anyone wants a distributor that looks like it spent 20 years at the bottom of the ocean.

http://www.msdignition.com/forum/search.php?searchid=398582