Electronic Ignition?

[1969Mach1]

Anyone have a MSD or Electronic Ignition in there car? Is it worth putting in? do you notice a different in fuel economy? and did you notice any performance improvements. I'm thinking of maybe having one put in when my car goes in on Wednesday so I wanted to see everyone elses view on them.

Thanks,
§am.

[John Z]

Unless your really going for high performance - high rpm, the only real advantage of electronic ignition is elimination of points and associated headaches. If you do not race and haven't had issues with points then why switch. If you want to go ahead, then the economy switch is to put in a peteronix unit avaliable from most mustang and performance stores. Very easy swap. Even though I have a MSD billet distributor and ignition box thanks to the PO, I don't think it is necessary.
Just my humble opinion.

[mustangII460]

As stated above:

Get a Pertronics ignitor for @$70.00. Easy to put in and worth every red cent.

[1969Mach1]

k thanks, like I just want acoulpe little things that will help with my fuel econmey. Like I know it's a 351 but I mean this thing is real bad. I probably get like 10mpg. If I'm lucky I'm guessing. It idles high and the carb is alittle rough so it's getting rebuilt tommorow, and having everything setup so it doesn't idle as high, it Idles at about 1100 right now.

Thanks for the help and any other suggestions you have,
§am.

[Clark Rodgers]

Let me know what they find when they fix the car because mine is acting similar to yours

[David Fulford]

I went from points to msd and didn't necessarily notice power increase, but it runs a million times better and stays running on the first start.(even after sitting a while) Then again I was't an expert at setting the points up. And I also had $400.00 or so to burn. In my current economic situation I would probably go with the pertronix as well. I race my car about 1 or 2 times a year and like the rev limiter the MSD provides. If you plan on doing any racing, you might want to go with the msd if you have the money.

[Jeff65]

There are two different genre of electronic ignitions:

1. Electronic Points
2. Capacitive Discharge Ignition System.

The first category include Pertronix, Mallory Unilite and several others. The CD category includes MSD, Mallory HyFire, Crane, Duraspark, and others.

The first category only serves to replace the points with an electronic trigger module. What this does is to eliminate the points, reduce the tune up to cap, rotor, plugs and wire - much less frequent replacements (50,000 miles instead of 5,000 miles).
This category can be used as a trigger source for the second category. Cost ranges from $70 to $200.

The second category serves to revise how the coil works to produce a spark. Included in the electronics module is an inverter to convert 12 volts to 300 volts, a tachometer circuit to monitor engine rpm, and an energy storage capacitor that provides a place to keep 300 volts until it is needed. When a trigger arrives from the Unilite or Pertronix module, the circuitry in the module directs 300 volts into the coil thereby producing a very hot spark. This spark can easily jump ten times the distance of a conventional ignition system. The rpm circuitry can also be used to cause multiple sparks per engine cycle or continuous sparking for up to 20 degrees or more of crankshaft rotation. What does this buy for the owner? With higher spark output there's no concern the plugs will misfire. With multiple spark or continuous sparking the fuel is spent more efficiently and this translates into small improvements in fuel mileage and in horsepower. Cost $250-$500 and requires a electronic distributor to fire it.

What else? With a CD ignition you usually need to use an electronic ignition coil. With non-CD ignition you usually need to use a conventional coil. With CD ignition you must use high voltage caps, rotors and wires.

[Rev]

Jeff65, that's a good explanation of electronic ignitions. As to the gas mileage/performance question, I have a Mallory Unilite distributor and a ProMaster coil. I got 12.5-13 MPG with that. After adding the Mallory 6-AL ignition (capacitive discharge multiple spark) box, mileage improved to over 14 MPG. I couldn't tell any difference in performance really (maybe slightly better mid range response). G-Tech 0-60 MPH times were the same before and after the new box. Hope that answers the MPG and performance questions anyway. On a side note, I think the MSD components are better than Mallory, but they cost more too. If I was doing it over again, I would choose MSD.

Rev

[Jeff65]

I'm still in the dark ages with a Mallory Dual Points in my '65 but I do understand the difference between these systems and one day may modernize.

[1969Mach1]

Well the car went in, I really miss her (She's only been gone for like 20 hours. Anyway this is the plan, new MSD Ignition with Rev Limiter setup, carb being rebuilt, and cleaned up and setup, and new Edelbrock Intake Manifold. I'm hoping to notice a decent performance difference.

Clark Rodgers - I'll let you know how it goes and tell you what my results were.

§am.