Ignition upgrade:MSD,Accel,Crane, Mallory, Jacobs, Holley?

Looking into upgrading my ignition, I have a 75 455 New cap, rotor, module, coil all stock replacement, I am running 8mm Mallory wires and AC R46 SZ? plugs. I regapped the plugs to .45 and tried to adjust the 750 edelbrock with a vac gauge, J heads with 3 angle valve job edelbrock performer cam new main bearings. Still feels like it is loading up. Any opinions on ignition box's for HEI's? MSD,Accel,Crane, Mallory, Jacobs, Holley?

Thanks, Kevin o No:

 

I'm using a Mallory Unilite distributor with mechanical advance. I also use a MSD blaster 3 coil and Taylor Made plug wires along with Champion fine wire projected tip race plugs.

I really like the Mallory distributor, the advance curve is easy to adjust, the timing does not fluctuate and this distributor offers very good bang for the buck. The blaster 3 coil fits in the stock location and has a HEI style terminal on the top so the coil wire is less likely to come off. The Taylor wires come in a 135 degree (read 45 degree) angle boot which really seems to fit nice on the Buick, a lot better than the huge MSD or Accel boots. The Champion plugs are self explanitory.

-------Mark D.

P.S. I've had a MSD 6AL box on this set-up, but I think I am going to try the digital 6 plus next. It offers the built in start retard along with dial adjustable rev-limit, no stupid resistor chips.

 

daves small body hei's-as used on the 2002 west coast nationals winning v8 car. simple, reliable, dependable, inexpensive as good performance gets!!!

 

I love MSD (except for when a plug wire grounds out thru my body at an idle!:eek2: DAMN those multiple strikes HURT!! ). But man they like to "nickel and dime" you, (read: $50 here, $100 there) with all these "extra options" when they should have just included these options in the first place, IMO!ou:

 

ignition

Kevin,

I have alow compression '76 455 and with the stock HEI it would run out of power after about 4000 rpm. I dropped in a '69 distributor with a mallory conversion kit and WOW! I am not using any CD or digital box only stock type coil and 8.8mm wires and AC R45TS plugs gapped at .030. I have used the rapidfire #2 plugs and like them better they seemed to be more foul resistant.

 

Uhhhhh - yeah - you can say that again. I gounded against the coil wire though with a bare sweaty knee against that shiny chrome bumper.

Got the new undies after that jolt! :eek2: :laugh:

 

Another for Dave's Small Body HEI, over the counter parts and great performance.

 

I've got a Mallroy Inilite distributor and a Mallory Hyfire VI-AL ignition box. The setup seems to work really great. I read in another thread that when going to the MSD VI box they want you to go two temps colder on the plugs and open the gap to 0.055", I am going to try this also, but I think I get lpenty of spark

 

ignition mods

I used Malory Unilite covnersion kit back in the 70's in a non stock 1970 390 AMX. worked great. Put the same unit on a 77 Cherokee with 401 motor and went to the mountains around Denver. Got on a bad dirt road and shook soo hard that light beam devise broke from the housing. !00 miles from home with a broked distributor. Found a guy with a tow truck and he towed me down the mountain and found a guy that had an old v8 chevy with the motor still in it. Took the point system from the Chevy and put it into my 401 dist. Set the points with a match book cover and drove 100 miles home at about 50 mph. Got home anyway. Never went back to Unilite unti my 74 Camaro BB race car and I bought a complete unilite dist for it and it worked great. Just bought a new MSD digital and billet dis and I wish I would have bought Mallory again. I got sucked up in all of the MSD hype and didn't listen to my gut feeling. Kenou: ou: ou:

 

Ken, don't be too defensive, but I'm curious why you don't like the MSD setup??

I use Mallory Unilite conversion AND MSD 6AL, (but mostly for the rev limiter). I like them both. The real reason why I'm asking is because I want to replace the 33 y/o distributor with MSD Billet. Is that a bad idea, IYO?

thanks,

 

Well I ended up getting a Mallory Hyfire IVc with 2 stage rev limiter and a promaster coil. Should be in next week. I will post my own results then!

thanks for all your input,

Kevin:TU:

 

One of the different guys here. Running a Crane-Hi6, with unilite guts in the distributor. No problems, works great.

 

Hey I have the MSD 6AL box, pro-billet distributor, 8.5 mm wires, and Blaster 2 coil. Rock solid timing, never had a problem out of it. Only think I didnt like was the distributor is all mechanical...easy to customize with springs and bushings to get the curve you want, but the all mechanical advance really hurt the gas mileage. Can anybody explain that to me?

 

You need the additional advance that vacuum advance provides during light throttle settings for improved mileage as well as vacuum advance at idle to prevent overheating at idle.

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I run a Mallory Unilite with vacuum can, MSD 6al, Jacobs oil filled coil and Accel 8.8mm spiral wound resistor plug wires and stock heat rating Bosch platinum plugs in a 32 roadster.
The 462" mildly built 9/1 engine starts easy, runs good and doesn't overheat in summer traffic on hot days. (100 degrees +)

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Does anyone know if MSD is going to supply a vac advance distributor for the 455 Buicks?
Centrifugal advance only is not gonna cut it for my new engine.

 

Who answered that they're running Jacobs ??

Im curious what system....I have one laying around in a box that was a take-off from a friend's car. Never used it.....just curious how you like it

 

I've used the unilite before and have blown several moduals. They are sensitive to over voltage or if you ground wire comes off the battery while running.

What I did was use the unilite distributor and modual powered from a lower voltage. I used this output to drive my own box with a IGBT. These transistors are killer. Works great and will not blow!

 

We go with Mallory unilite & MSD 6A.
But I think we should upgrade to a 6AL.........With Piston Bustin' Beth And All

D.

 

what ever works

I am still useing a Hays stinger s4 system with a stock converted dist. that has never failed me .
I JUST PICKED UP A ACCEL BILLETPROOF 71105e dist. THAT I UNDERSTAND CAN BE USED WITH OTHER CONTROL BOXES MSD/MALLORY with a minor wireing moduel bypass And try it with the Hays S4 and or a msd al6
HAS ANY ONE USED THIS DISTRIBUTOR. or dne up this combonation?
Dave

 

Can a Mallory engineer vote? :Brow:

Just a few comments. MSD makes great products so we at Mallory try to give customers a few reasons to buy Mallory. Such as:

All Mallory CD boxes are and always have been digital (long before MSD came out with digital boxes). This means no rpm chips to buy.

The Mallory VIAL has two rev limiters, needs no rpm chips to adjust the limiters, is digital, has multiple sparks and costs less than the MSD digital 6.

The Mallory VI with LED read-out has 10 different functions built-in (such as rev limiters, boost retard, start retard, rpm switches, tach tester, nitrous retard etc) for a price much less than buying all the MSD pieces to do all the same functions. There is even an optional remote so you can adjust everything from the driver's seat.

Mallory offers at least 8 different distributors for Buick V8: points, Unilite, magnetic breakerless (MBI), all with or without adjustable vacuum advance. We also still make two Comp9000 (the one's with the large cap) versions (Unilite and MBI) that come with adjustable mechanical and adjustable vacuum advance. We also now supply the Comp9000 distributors with a vacuum advance delete plate that allows you to remove the vacuum advance if you want.

Mike at T/A performance stocks most of the Mallory line so you don't have to wait for it to be made at the factory like you do when you order from other Chevy oriented dealers.

The Accel 71 series distributors are simply Mallory MBI distributors that use an Accel module rather than a Mallory module. The Accel module doesn't require a ballast resistor or resistor wire however, the spark is weaker than a MBI and the Accel module creates a 4 degree retard just before the mechanical advance starts to come in. Not a good thing for off idle performance. The Accel 71 series works fine if you run it with an CD box however, as the module is bypassed when a box is used.

If you want to retain a stock looking distributor, Mallory now offers an "E-spark" conversion kit to get rid of points in stock distributors. Of course we still offer the Unilite conversion kits but the E-spark kits cost about half as much to compete with the lower cost Pertronix kits. So what's the difference between a Unilite module and an E-Spark module? The E-Spark module housing is black and the Unilite is red/orange. p
The E-Spark kits and modules are the same functionally as the Unilite. The price difference is due to the fact that the E-Spark modules are made on automated equipment rather than hand assembled.
Keep this in mind if you ever need a Unilite module. The E-Spark module is a direct replacement and costs about half as much. :Smarty:

And that is the inside story.........................