Hey all. I have a 96 351w converted to carb and 77 duraspark 2 setup. It runs good now but I considered upgrading the dizzy to aftermarket because I was told that the advance curve of Duraspark is not good for performance. Any input on this?

 

I know this is a little off subject, but can you give me some info on your 96 351W carb conversion? I have the same engine and exploring the idea to switch to carb. What heads did you use? Intake manifold? Carb? Did you change the timing chain cover to use a mechanical fuel pump or do you use an electric one? What about the water pump? Any info would be great.

So, on subject, have you looked at Holly or Edelbrock for a distributor? _ Tony.

 

Im using stock roller cam with gt40p heads, weiand stealth intake and eddie 650 carb. Also using electric fuel pump and standard water pump.

 

So, what are you using for a distributor now? Steel gear? What is the engine in now? _ Tony.

 

duraspark 2 with a steel gear.

 

Huh? Just change the curve to match your cam! Typically, you want full advance all in by 2500 rpm

 

I converted my 5.8 to carb from fuel injection. I bought an aftermarket intake manifold and a quick fuel carb. For a distributor, I bought an aftermarket HEI type. It works well. Biggest problem I had was converting back to a mechanical fuel pump. Had to get the cam eccentric from Ford. It was done about 5 years ago, and aside from the HEI module taking a dump, have had no problems.

 

The Duraspark is as good as any magnetic pickup type street distributor. In fact the MSD pro billet distributors are very much like the Ford Duraspark. Does this look familiar.
MSD 84661 Magnetic Pickup for all MSD Billet Distributors (holley.com)
The nice thing about the MSD part is you can adjust the gap on the stator. Not possible on a stock Duraspark. The Duraspark can be recurved to whatever you want it to be, but it is a time consuming project doing it on the engine with a dial back timing light. If you want to keep the distributor you have and don't feel like you can recurve it yourself, "keep in mind it may be just fine the way it is". You can send it to someone with a distributor machine and have it recurved. Or buy one that is set up for your engine. Ford Duraspark – Performance Distributors
I would recommend you loose that Duraspark box if you are looking for performance at high RPM. Those things are famous for retarding the spark at high RPM. There are plenty of ignition boxes that a magnetic pickup distributor will trigger. I use the Mopar type box from FBO and mount them inside the cab. FBO Ignition Systems MOPAR Micro-Processor IGNITION SYSTEMS Digital Micro Processor Circuitry|EPROM Processor with|Built in DEAD STOP Algorithm REV Limiter|Eliminates Ballast Resistor|44KV Output on demand|Plug and Play|one simple wiring modification (4secondsflat.com)
If you use the Mopar box you need a harness they are available on e-bay, Jegs or Summit.

 

thanks for the input. I'm using a motorcraft box and it's in a truck so I'm not over 4000rpm anyway. I was just wondering if there was anything to be gained by an upgrade.

 

This is the first time I heard about the Duraspark box retarding timing at high rpms. Do you at what rpm this occurs at?

I knew about the retard function that is enabled while cranking to make the engine start easier. This requires connecting the white wire from the box to the "S" terminal on the starter relay.

 

[QUOTE=xlt4wd90;20410663]This is the first time I heard about the Duraspark box retarding timing at high rpms. Do you at what rpm this occurs at?

I knew about the retard function that is enabled while cranking to make the engine start easier. This requires connecting the white wire from the box to the "S" terminal on the starter relay.[/Quote

I have been told that by two different distributor tuners who have distributor machines and are able to spin the things to 6000 rpm. The first I heard of it was from Performance distributors back in 1990 when I order a complete distributor and module for a 5.0 project. At that time they were using Mopar boxes. I asked why not the Duraspark and they said it didn't work well at high rpm. Ford was aware of this also, at the time Ford Motorsports offered a plug and play HP replacement for the Duraspark II. But it was over $200 a lot of money back then. The Mopar chrome box was only $60. But any of these old boxes are using outdated circuits, with modern solid state processors any of the new boxes MSD, FBO etc. will outperform them. The Duraspark and the Mopar boxes were designed in the 1970,s with 1970's electronics. And to make it worse they are now made in some country where English isn't their first language.