could anybody enlighten me as to the reason why MSD makes ignitions systems and distributors for basically every other engine BUT the ford I-6?? i was checkin out their website a while back and couldn't find anything so i ordered a catalog just to see. but i read the dang thing front to back and couldn't find a single thing. i did find systems to specifically fit chevy 292's and other chevy I-6's but not a single thing for ford! what is up with that? i for one am disappointed, i wanted an MSD system pretty bad for my truck when i overhaul it, but as it appears, that's not gonna happen now. all i can find is a Malloy system, which i haven't heard too much about, but i guess it's gotta be better than stock? anyone else have a view point on this? maybe an answer or two??

 

In all honesty, a stock Duraspark system is pretty good. I personally think (I welcome others to disupte this, but I have a lot of grounds for this opinion) that performance ignition is overrated anyway. All it takes to ignite the fuel\air is a good blue spark which a stock coil can easily do. For a given coil voltage there is a finite range of plug gap to arc the voltage, no more and no less. "Hotter" spark in my opinion is hooplah. If a stock coil can produce the secondary voltage needed to arc the gap and ignite a given fuel and air mixture, then anything more is wasted energy. The only real performance factor in ignition is spark timing, which is what the fancy boxes do, but a Duraspark box does a pretty decent job of dialing that in. There are those out there that will shoot down what I am telling you because "Summit wouldn't sell it if it wasn't good "and "I've had one on my truck for years" etc but I am explaining it from a practical standpoint. Don't get me wrong, performance ignition can add some power, but I think it is mistakenly believed that performance ignition is absolutely necessary to have a powerful motor. While I respect the claims of people who run performance ignition, my stance is that your money is much better spent on other performance upgrades to your engine like carburetion and exhaust. If you were building a different motor that had stuff more readily available and you had some extra cash left over, then why not. But I don't think you're going to be missing out on too much. My 2 cents.

 

He said it!! After all its spark that ignites the fuel. Good advice ive played this expensive game before and was not impressed in the dollar to performance trade off.
HHW

 

Yep, your ignition system either does the job or doesn't. There's no middle ground. You don't need it until you're upping compression and spinning high rpm. The Bowties have the aftermarket to support that type of engine. We don't. Your best bet is a well put together and curved stock ignition system with good plugs and wires and maybe a slightly warmer coil. Other than that you don't need anything else.

 

so when i overhaul my 300 i'm planning on installing a head from a 240 and boring the block, but i'm unsure on how much i'm gonna go over yet. i'm aiming for higher compression for a higher torque value. along w/ the typical intake, cam shaft, and header upgrades, i was planning on upgrading the fuel and ignition systems...from wat i've always read, there were differences in spark, creating differences in burn quality, therefor, the whole MSD thing. i'm a diesel technician by trade so this whole spark ignition thing is kinda a horse of a different color to me.

so if a beefed up stock system will create a good enough quality of spark for my engine, is there a brain box i can put on it to tune the timing to just the correct time?

 

actually i've seen the msd distributor for the i6. i'm almost positive.

 

http://gofastforless.com/

There is a bit of information there that can fill you in on upgraded ignitions.

An stock ignition box or an HEI (GM) box along with a recurved DSII dizzy and a bigger coil (I think some use a stock TFI coil too) like a MSD Blaster II or any comparable make will work.

http://www.reincarnation-automotive....ons_index.html

There are the instructions for recurving a DSII or you can purchase one from them.

http://www.performancedistributors.c...stributors.htm

Or that company has them too.

 

i was wrong. i looked in summit and they have mallory, not msd. i went to the msd website, and they don't have one. sorry for my misleading previous post.

 

So up the compression, add a hair drier, put the right fuel in it and don't worry!

With your mods a stock ignition in good shape will be fine. The distributor doesn't have anything to do with spark output anyway, it's just a way to tell the coil when to fire and then send it to the correct cylinder.

 

Oooo the diesel side of me quiver's w/ excitement at the thought of more compression! ...of course, in preformance diesels, they sometimes make a bigger camber to lower the compression, but it's made up for w/ added fuel and h2o injection....my blood is pumping now!!!

but ya good point on the distributor thing, but would u still recommend a hotter coil?

 

They probably reduce the compression to increase the volumetric efficiency without paying a price with cylinder pressure. The same applies to gas engines, just not to the same extreme.

A hotter coil won't hurt anything and costs about the same as a good stock coil. If nothing else, the hotter coil will maintain performance at larger plug gaps as the electrode wears out. It's probably not a bad idea, it just won't add much over the stocker.

 

A TFI coil rescued from a junk yard post DSII Ford would be quite inexpensive and give you all the spark you can use.

 

exactly right about the volumetric efficiency, silver streak, i just took the long way around on getting there...i think i'll just try the TFI coil if i run across one and probably call that good, the more i read up on the whole thing, the less i like the idea of spending all the money on it, if everyone says that it won't do me too much good

 

A “hotter spark” at the plug will only happen with a bigger gap. If you run stock plugs with the original gap there will be no change. It will take a higher voltage to jump a larger gap. Higher cylinder pressure (compression ratio) will need higher voltage will all things being equal. The larger the gap the more likely the voltage will not be enough to jump the gap thus it might not fire each time and run rough. As the plugs wear the gap increases. So it is really best in the big picture to just use a stock spark plug gap.

I am planning on using a Duraspark II dizzy with vac advance, a stock TFI coil and a GM HEI module.
My current running condition is 12 BTDC with no advance due to computer issues, and thus 12MPG.

Here is my question. Will recurving the distributor help with gas mileage?
I am current planning on just installing the new dizzy stock as it would seem to me I could just advance the timing to get the gas mileage increase, if it is possible to get a gas mileage increase.

I am an aircraft mechanic and if you want to see a “hot spark” check out an igniter plug on a turbine engine. It is more like an explosion than a spark.

 

MSD stands for multiple spark discharge. It continues to fire the plugs for "X" degrees of crankshaft rotation. It's just a box that you add in that does that and it can mask some other problem that may exist. Or, in extreme high performance engines, high load, high rpm, high compression, the turbulance in the cylinder can "blow out" the spark before it ignites the air/fuel mix. In that situation the MSD is valuable.

Essentially, fmc400 called it right off the bat.

Your stock coil is capable of putting out more voltage than is actually required to fire your plugs, assuming that they are in good condition.