Upgrade Step 1) MSD Blaster 2 Coil - First Impressions

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:27 am

Well, after months of marking around I whacked it into my Leone (88 carburated).

This lead to two improvements.

1) Car used to always stutter when first started cold, and even die needing a restart. Now it starts up every time without worries and never stalls (touch wood), even after a really cold night. plugs are now gapped to 1.1 too

2) I cant really feel an increase in power, but engine seems to spin more freely and runs smoother.

Big bore exhaust coming up next week, so I'll keep you fellas posted.

LTurbo · Post by **LTurbo** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:45 pm

how much do these things usually go for?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-MSD-BLASTER- ... dZViewItem

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 4:23 pm

yeah, thats where I got it. Plug and play.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:21 pm

The going RRP price is about $120.

Sometimes they can be had on ebay for under $60 if you're lucky.

Jordan.

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:23 pm

if you buy the MSD 6al to go with it you WILL feel the difference.

I had one on a carb'd L series years ago and on a Turbo one it made a big difference in seat of the pants feel and if you kept the foot out of it - lots more fuel economy.

for the carb'd car 756km on one tank. I was going to push it further until I ran out of fuel ( was on a bris-syd run and I had 20L on board as backup)

for the turbo added 100km to the tank. most of the time my foot was in it too much to notice.

the same unit went on my 87 sherpa as well. took 400km and made it 550km. could feel the difference as well.

storngly recommmend the MSD units ( but with CDI unit as well.

MUDRAT · Post by **MUDRAT** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:24 pm

Exactly the same feeling when i used iridium spark plugs in the EJ20. Well worth the effort IMO.

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:07 pm

Chris_Rogers wrote:if you buy the MSD 6al to go with it you WILL feel the difference.

Keep talking

. What is this 6al thing, and how does it work. Most important, will it wreck your motor/electricals?

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:34 pm

Multiple Spark Discharge

more info here.

http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_6_6420.htm

injected cars need a coil adapter other wise it will not run

as for the cars electrical system - runs directly off the battery and ties into the original coil wiring. uses that as a trigger and fires the new coil many times below 3000 rpm and one BIG bang above that point.

has rev limiting which came in handy when I forgot how fast I was revving the engine. smooth cut and it will not go any further.

was great when I sent the car to a shop. stuck a 4 k chip in and they couuldnt thrash the car.

subanator · Post by **subanator** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 11:04 pm

CDI ones are well worth the money. These things have been around for decades! - my old man put one on his then new Falcon in the '70s. It did the same for improving fuel economy and efficiency.
I looked into this myself, and would be thinking of this for any upgrade.

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:51 am

So will it work with a carbed engine and MSD coil? Is there much wiring involved? Thanks

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:53 am

yep- did it in 97 on one. read what I posted earlier.

very little wiring involved. read the instructions and you are set.

Bobbrumby · Post by **Bobbrumby** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:47 pm

Whats a msd 6al worth, and do you need to run a blaster 2 with it?

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:55 pm

not sure what the going price is here (I brought mine with me when I moved from the USA) but $400 or so wouldn't be far off.
if you rang a local dealer (performance wholsale or the like) they should be able to tell you. use their coil as it works better than the OEM item.

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:13 pm

yep CDI and Multiple Sparks works good in a turbo,
the Msd units I seen for about $600 at local repco...buy from US on ebay is the way to go, got a MSD blaster (resin packed one) for ~$AUD60 total, I did look on ebay for a long time tho ,till I got lucky.

As to whether its worth it in a carb car, bit skeptical, only because by what I watched on a cro the points, the electronic points in the dizy do a good job of extending the dwell time (ie, the time the coil carries current), so the charge (actually the magnetic field) builds up at best rate possible anyway.

GTlegs · Post by **GTlegs** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:58 pm

So, will an MSD 6a work with the carburetted L series electronic ignition?

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:36 pm

Bobbrumby · Post by **Bobbrumby** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:24 pm

Whats the difference between running just a blaster 2 coil and running a 6al + a blaster 2 except the multiple spark firings at low rpms?

What I am getting at is you dont make more energy from nothing so by running a blaster 2 (better spark than stock) with no 6al, would there be more current draw thru your electronic points than with the stock coil? Therefore making them die quicker?

Does the 6al only use the points a as trigger so that there is even less current drawn thru it than stock?

Chris_Rogers · Post by **Chris_Rogers** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:44 pm

6al uses the oringinal points as a trigger only. based on that trigger it fires it's own coil . the best combo is both items. the blaster 2 is wound a little bit tighter and has a slighty higher output than stock but thats it. stock from memory is 35Kv these things run at 50Kv.

download the installation manaul for a MSD 6 off the site I listed earlier and it will make sense.

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:09 pm

GTlegs wrote:So, will an MSD 6a work with the carburetted L series electronic ignition?

yes,
In fact your electronic points gets to do an easier job, because it then simply drives a small current to trigger the MSD 6a, rather than the amps to drive the coil directly.

Both methods are using a energy storage device, the standard coil setup uses the coil (the magnetic field developed by the current running thru the coil)
The CDI uses a capacitor, which is an stored charge electric field.The coil in the circuit simply acts as a voltage transformation device.

The reason why the CDI produces more energetic spark is because it is practically easier to store more energy in a capacitor, because of size/manufacture,and by simply increasing the voltage of the stored charge.The CDIhas an inverter within that steps 12V to 350-500Volts.

To generate the equivalent energy from a purely coil setup requires manufacture of the coil from heavier wire for lower resistance (more current and more copper!!$), but also the inherit inductance also limits the rate of current rise, in all making manufacture of such a coil device impractical. BTW this same inductance is what allows the coil discharge time to lengthen, ie longer duration spark - which CDI doesn't have - hence the multiple discharge to overcome that limitation.

One of the reasons why a 42V automotive electrical system is being pursued is for this very reason, so coil doesn't need to be manufactured to pass more current (which as mentioned b4 more copper !!$)

Sorry if I lost some of you, but I hope the explanation isn't too difficult