Hello all. I was hoping some of you folks might have some insight into how to wire an MSD 5 ignition into my '86 F250. It's got the 351w HO carbed and has all the stock ignition parts. It also has a tach and the dist. with the magnetic pick-up. I've talked to MSD, but they're not a whole lot of help just yet. Thanks out there.

 

Does your distributor have a vacuum advance(vacuum connection) on it?

Here's the instructions for your system.

http://www.msdignition.com/pdf/pn_5200.pdf

 

Thanks for the link to the diagrams page. That will be VERY helpful. Still not positive as to which ignition I currently have. The dist. does have vacuum advance. Will that make a difference?

 

I just looked at the link and the first note (under the warning about disconnecting the battery) says that the MSD 5 cannot be triggered by a magnetic pickup.
Does this mean that you can't use the MSD 5 with your distributor?
AL.

 

Thats a good question that I'd like to know the answer to also. When I talked to MSD they didn't say anything to me about it not working with my system. Anyone know this?

 

What I am getting out of the instructions, is you leave your stock ignition system and all it's wiring in place.

You take the negative wire off your coil, and hook it to the white trigger wire that goes to the msd5.

You tie the msd5 red wire to the positive of the coil to power the msd5.

Hook the orange wire coming out of the msd5 to the negative of the coil. This is what fires the coil.

In other words, you are piggy-backing the msd5 onto the original ford electronic box. What are the advantages to this system? I don't know. You already have electronic ignition with the stock set-up. I can see an advantage if you had points.

The msd5 is not a multiple spark, cd ignition.

 

Well, I followed the diagrams to no avail. It still doesn't work. I think the box may be broken, so I'll try to send it back, but probably wont have any luck because I don't have the warranty papers or a purchase receipt.
Exactly which wire does the White MSD wire hook to? I'm a little unclear on this part. Like, what color is it? What is it attached to?

 

Click on the link in the second post (by Franklin2) of this thread to bring up the first diagram in the installation instructions.
Before you started the installation, there was one wire hooked up to the negative side of the coil. That is the wire that is to be removed from the coil & joined to the MSD white wire.
AL.

 

My diagrams say that wire should be darkgreen/yellow. The white msd wire hooks to this wire. Take the darkgreen/yellow off the coil, hook the white wire to it, and tape them up.