A) Solid billet Al housing - no flex whatsoever, no weak, grainy, porous, potmetal casting
True, but have you ever broken a stock distributor or a MP piece? the stock units seem to work fine for 200,000 miles or more, is it really worth the $270.00?
B) Ball bearing supported shaft - top and bottom sealed ball bearings, which means the shaft will never get side-to-side slop over time, like a factory bushing-supported distributor will, and it will spin effortlessly to 10k RPM
True again, but who spins there motor to 10,000 RPM. I will state that the stock ELECTRONIC distributors don't wear at all like the old points type. We see many distributors come in with 100-200,000 miles and the bushings are just fine and well within tolerance, we re-bush anything that is even slightly worn.
C) 1/2" diameter steel shaft - why not? everything else in it is overkill...
It's a nice feature, always nice and straight and thy look good, not stock by any means but they look good.
D) Indestructable magnetic pickup - no adjustments ever, consistent timing for decades (I've had mine in for 14 years now, and never have to even look at it)
MSD uses the Ford stock Magnetic pick-up as do many other manufacturers, simple cheap and plentiful, similar to a Mopar Pick-up.
E) GM cap and rotor design - get replacement parts at a 7-eleven if needed
Are Mopar caps, rotors and pickups any harder to find?
F) Super-simple timing advance adjustments - no need to disassemble half the distributor just to make a spring change
Very true and doing a stock Mopar distributor can be a challenge to a novice, but it should be noted that a MSD come with a 18* bushing as max and if you run enough cam you'll need more than that so we're back to the file and fit anyhow.
G) Universal magnetic pickup - hook to any magnetic pickup box, not just MSD
All magnetic pick-ups are virtually universal as long as they put out 1/2V or better they will trigger about any box.
H) MSD box spark energy - high energy for running clean even when your car is cold or the A/F ratio is off
Yup the MSD Capacitor Discharge System will put out about 40-44,000 V to the plugs which is excellent, even overkill as we've found that over about 38,000 is more spark than anyone needs for any car under 13:1 compression and under 8,000 RPM. Anyone here running 8K RPM at 13+:1?
I) Multiple spark discharge - each cylinder receives 6 sparks, to ensure a clean burn. I have seen the "six sparks per event" displayed on an engine dyno, it is no BS.
Correct again although it's more than 6 and do you realize that it switches to a SINGLE spark at 3000 RPM? So why the Multi Spark?....Engines with big cams build very little cylinder pressure at low RPM and therefore it's difficult to light the fuel off. By submitting the fuel charge to a multiple spark it ensures that the flame front will get going, once it starts to burn you can hit it with 100 sparks and it won't burn any faster it just takes one good spark and it goes from there. The MSD or Multi Spark System works best with a High band coil designed to run at above 3000 RPM, a stock coil is designed to run at below 5000 RPM basically from crank to high cruise on a stock engine, they actually start to drop output at about 4,000 and by 5000 most start to drop cylinders. To help with starting on a high band coil the the MSD (Multi-Spark System) Band-Aids this condition and quite well I might add.
"So buy what you want, but don't talk trash about something unless you know what you are saying"
I don't think anyone’s talking trash here at all, a discussion of opinions and personal experience's are why we come here. The MSD has its place and from my experience I would say that place is on a Race Track and not really on a daily driver or street cruiser, it's over kill. You've had your MSD System (at least I presume your running the whole system) for 14 years, that's remarkable because most of them last at best 5 years and for everyone that's had one running for 14 years I can give you 100 that last less than 5 years.
The distributor is nothing more than trigger, it doesn’t do anything other than direct current and send that signal to the ECU, unlike its predecessor the points ignition system.
A MSD set-up, distributor, box, coil for a Mopar is about $600.00 and for the novice or weekend mechanic a challenge to install correctly. It will spin to 10,000 RPM, it will put out 40KV+, but if the box fails your not going to find a replacement at the 7/11 or a general Auto Parts Store in Bowdunk Arkansas, you need a tow truck.
Our FBO System on the other hand is a direct plug and play unit 20 minutes to install, any jobber or 7/11 will have a stock or off brand component that will get you home and save that towing bill. It will run to 8800 RPM flawlessly (that's as fast as we can spin our machine), it won't pull out timing, it won't drop cylinders and it'll put out 38KV+ to plugs at peak and single spark it at 28KV at crank RPM (Starting) which is more than enough to start and give a good clean idle to 98% of the people on this board. Full ignition Kit with distributor all for a mere $244.00 and that's custom curved and phased to your engine combination, drop it in and go with a 2 year warrantee on the coil and ECU.
Is the FBO Ignition system right for everyone? Absolutely not, but it's the best ignition available for the price, stock appearing, excellent output, easy to install and backed by good tech assistance and a full replacement warrantee.
Is MSD right for everyone? Absolutely not, but for big cams and racing applications it's probably one of the best choices you can make.
“MSD Ignition products to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and if properly installed for a period of one year from date of purchase.
In case of malfunction, your MSD component will be repaired free of charges according to the terms of the warranty.”
So in summary…..
$600.00 or $250.00?
Big Red Box or Stock appearing?
1 year or 2 year warrantee?
Joe’s Towing or Napa?
MSDTech line or ours?
2 hour install or 20 minutes
It's up to the Consumer to make the correct choice for his or her specific application and it's up to us to assist that customer with the correct and honest information to make able to make that determination. We often refer customers to Mail order houses to purchase a MSD Distributor and or ECU and have then ship direct to us for curving and set-up before they install their components.
All the major Mail Order Houses and MSD have our address on file and ship to us on behalf of their customers for final tuning of components on a regular basis.
