Eliminate the igniter?

[4wdchico]

i am going forward with my plans for an ignition upgrade. I will be running a MSD #5900 Blaster Ignition box and a MSD #8680 ignition timing control. Both P/N's are 50 state smog legal. The Blaster ignition can be triggered many ways and can even be wired directly to the trigger in the dizzy, eliminating the need for an igniter in the circuit. I know that the igniter in the t4wd is very reliable, but is there any reason to not eliminate it? If the igniter was retained it would only be switching a very small current flow, about 50mA compared to about 3 amps in the stock configuration. This would make the stock igniter even more reliable because of the vastly reduced current draw.

The dizzy will be fully torn down & cleaned/relubed and receive a new trigger, coil, vac advance assy., dizzy driveshaft gear & also be rebushed with the driveshaft resealed with a new o-ring.

[Petros]

The fewer parts in the system, the better AFAIAC. A lighter simpler system is always best it seems to me. Only two issues, would that put an additional load on the trigger, and if you ever want to remove the MSD system (to install in another car or engine swap or something), removing the ignitor means it will take parts to convert it back to the factory system.

How much do those MSD parts cost? Does the timing control allow you change the advance curve?

Let us know if you get any noticeable power or economy improvement.

[4wdchico]

I'm fairly sure that the MSD box will not put any extra load on the trigger. On the Ae86 TVIS 4age bluetop the ignitor fails with some regularity and going to an external ignition box and eliminating the ignitor is pretty much SOP on Club4ag.

I have several known good spare dizzys so modding one of them is not much of an issue. The biggest issue is deciding where to mount the two components along with the power filter/buffer capacitor & figuring out where to run the wiring.

Both MSD parts can be bought for about $125-150 each online. I was lucky and got my timing control for $80 used.

I am not comfortable saying that the timing control will change the advance curve. i prefer saying that it allows the base timing to be changed across a 15 degree range from the driver's seat. I have installed MSD boxes on an number of cars in the past & all have been a nice improvement. The two that I put the timing controls onto were a whole lot nicer improvement. Dialing back the timing advance on hills at lower elevations in hot weather is nice to reduce the chances of ping. Cranking up the advance when driving at high elevations gains back much of the power & throttle response lost due to the thinner air.

I had a '68 Dodge M300 motor home with the 318-3 high torque industrial (very special motor) with the stock 2 barrel carb. The MSD box and timing control made a huge difference in torque off the line and added power and efficiency every where else. The M300 Islander MH went well over 10k #'s fully loaded and I never found another RV or Semi that could keep up on the hills on my trip to Alaska in '95. it held a total of 150 gallons of gas in four tanks so I kept one tank full of premium fuel and switched to that tank before a steep climb and then would dial in advance until it pinged on the climb, then just back it off a tad. For a smallish 2 barrel V8 it positively flew up the steeps.

A post of yours a while back reminded me of the problems of getting a clutch equipped car started from a stop on a steep hill (esp. at high altitude) with advanced timing clinched my decision to include the timing control in my ignition upgrade. I will be able to retard the base timing below the stock 5 degrees of advance to get the car rolling on a steep climb & then dial the timing back up as the rpms rise.

[4wdchico]

Oops