which would be better for my 79' f150 with the FE460? MSD or the ignitorIII? what are the pros and cons of each?

 

What is a FE460?

 

FE460 big block haha

 

i actually discovered that the 460 is not an FE series engine but a DOVE series so that was my bad

 

Since you already have electronic ignition with the Duraspark I don't think you're gaining anything with either. If you have a lot of stuff done than maybe. A 460 is not Dove series there's no such thing they are 385 series engines. If you have heads that say D0VE they are 1970 heads or D1 would be 1971. If you had a points style distributor rather than the electronic stuff it would actually be a upgrade going to the MSD or Pertronix.

 

so theres no kind of upgrade from the duraspark ii ignition? i've heard that the duraspark IIs are bad about burning out and i'd like to upgrade from it.
and the was my bad about the DOVE series thing i must have read some wrong info

 

Duraspark IIs burning out is a
myth perpetuated by people selling MSD products and Chevy fanboys. If you've done some other work, you can have you're distributor recurved. But with a stock engine, a Duraspark II is perfectly fine.

 

I like to use the Dura Spark distributor with a MSD 6A box. The 6A will replace the stock Ford module.

For a stock application the 6A is more than adequate. No need for anything beefier.

Pretty straight forward swap. The MSD will have all necessary wiring diagrams in their instructions, or they can be obtained on-line.

An aside, Ford doesn't have a DOVE (D oh V E) series engine. The 460 is a member of the 385 engine family. This also includes the 370" in medium duty trucks and the 429" car engine.
D0VE (D zero V E) is a casting / engineering number that appears on many of the earlier 429 and 460 blocks, heads, intakes, etc.

 

x2

460 is a 385 series. Unless you are running crazy big power and really hot plugs/coil you're not going to benefit going to an MSD or Pertronix. It will just look cooler under the hood of your truck. When I rebuilt my 400 I was recommended by everyone to stick with stock ignition components. I'm glad I did.

 

That's a myth around my place anyhow . Since about 1985 i have owned 5 with the Duraspark II , have never had to replace one . I liked it so well i remove one from a 79 i was parting out and put it on my 73 ,looks like it belongs there. The big General Motors ones are so big and ugly . I started to buy a 79 SC a couple of weeks ago and it had one on the 460 . That was going to be the first part i was changing back,but i never bought it.

 

My '78 400 still runs the original Duraspark box. No problem. Just in case, I have a spare behind the seat. It is a Motocraft from Rock Auto which is supposed to be better than the parts store boxes which may fail faster. Best to stick with Duraspark and run the Motocraft box if the engine is mild and wiring is good. If the engine is really hot or wiring not so good, the alternatives look better.

 

In the 28 years i had my 79.....one time the Duraspark system crapped out on me. It was the pickup module inside the distributor. Replaced it and the ICM and all was better. Some years later I did do what I thought was a coil upgrade by swapping in a coil from a early 90's Mustang with a H.O 5 liter and also bought a set of plug wires from NAPA. (the cool looking blue ones). Seemed to start easier but that could have been due to the plug wires. Anyways....i was happy with it.

 

i'm not planning on leaving the engine stock for very long if i can get the tools and equipment that i need for an engine rebuild. i'm planning on camming the engine and putting headers on it and anything else i can do for performance so would the dura spark be alright for an engine with those upgrades?

 

A Dura Spark distributor is as good as any original equipment distributor. Once you make your engine mods have the dist re-curved to meet the engine demands.

As I said in an earlier post, I prefer to use a MSD 6A rather than the stock Ford control module. With the slight engine mods you are proposing the 6A will work fine, and in my experience, much better than the stock module.
To maximize the engine mods, and the 6A, you could use a hotter coil and upgraded ignition wires. Again, I prefer MSD. They offers quality parts that are compatible with each other.

 

This is what I've done to my engine:
Ford 400 335series V8 bored .040 over to 410ci.
Keith Black Hypereutectic Pistons with 14cc dish and 9.3:1 C/R
Comp Cams XE256 flat tappet cam with just under .500 lift
Double roller timing chain
Scorpion fully CNC'd aluminum roller rockers
Wieand Stealth aluminum intake topped with an Edelbrock 1806 650fcm 4bbl
MSD Blaster II coil
Flowtech longtube headers into 3" collectors reduced to 2.5" and dualed out at 45 degrees

Other than the MSD Blaster II coil and NGK platinum plugs I'm running all stock ignition parts with no issues. The truck is currently my DD (My poor 97 F-150 hasn't been started in weeks) and I'd trust the truck to drive across country and back.

Stock ignition components will support a lot of power. I personally wouldn't worry about it till at least 400+ horsepower.