I've now tested three different MSD 'Street Fire' #8362 and they all act the same. At first hit the spark is bright and powerful but looses intensity in a period of a few minutes. The timing is extremely erratic, jumping 15degrees at a time. At near 5Krpm they pretty much quit altogether. I first started troubleshooting these for the circle track guys that are required to run HEI, the distributors will fire the motor and kinda idle etc but give up the ghost on the track. The MSD are internally no different from the $50 Ebay HEI distributors, I've tested both have had both apart. Just a headsup.
Interesting. I put that dizzy in my brothers C10 in 2015 and 40k miles later havent had a lick of trouble. It starts easier and runs better in the 3500 plus rpm range than the stock points unit. Not a race truck but happy in spirited street use
There were articles in Hot Rod about counterfeit parts. MSD's were one product identified that was being copied. Were the MSD's purchased from a reputable source? or low cost EBAY seller? There were some tell tale signs like units with the same serial numbers, or MSD6 boxes that were nothing more than a HEI module inside. Would be interesting to verify with MSD, or make sure they are truly MSD's There are units on EBAY titled as MSD 8362's for $50ish dollars, and true MSD's are $160ish
I have a friend with a mid 70`s ford with a hot 460 & he's had problems with msd ignition in it. Bought thru jegs or summit, I don't remember which. In fact lately he's talked about ripping it all out and going to something different. Btw, it's a total set, distributor, coil, box, etc.
Would also get interesting if someone bought a real one and returned a counterfeit then store puts back in stock ... some poor shmuck gets a shitty one from a reliable source!
Look to DUI in Memphis for HEI type ignitions. I've found them excellent to work with and their systems flawless. You could always look to Pertronix...
I ran an MSD box with an actual GM, HEI in my street car for the 6 years after I put the combination together, without problem. Wasn't any sort of killer engine, but with a roller cam, ported heads, Edelbrock intake, custom (one-off) headers, the distributor moved to the front of the block...again zero problems at least to 6500rpm, no problem. Mike
I thought I saw something in one of my mags or online that a few years back that MSD at first bought Mallory and that Mallory actually went away. And then someone else bought MSD and brought the Mallory brand back but where not going to tech or part support the older style Mallory units. Corperations are buying up a lot of the names we have come to trust and are replacing the tried and true products with overseas crap in the name of profit. Hell open up the summit catalog on distributers and tell me the difference between the summit line and the MSD besides price! Who knows what you are getting and where its from! Larry
Around here mad stands for metropolitan sewer district .......just saying Sent from my Pixel 2 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have a couple of units from them, too, including a custom 7-pin, no advance one. Rock-solid. Totally flawless.
I had a MSD in my avatar 49 Chevy for 17 years and just a few months ago switched it back to a regular GM HEI unit. No problems with the unit per say other than my module went south for the second time and a new module is north of $110 whereas a GM Module is $30. It's a little easier to swallow $30 and carry a spare. $110 swallows a little harder. I don't race or compete with the truck and the GM unit works great.
I believe the ones I am seeing are immitation or there is just a bad run of parts. The problem is the reluctor has 8 points and is part of the distributor shaft. The magnetic pickup coil imbedded in the base has the same 8 points and when they all match up it triggers the fire. Well, the maker of the reluctor and the maker of the magnetic pickup coil aren't working off the same blueprints, you can get 6 points to match perfect, the other two are off by over .010 creating the false trigger. If I had a better camera I'd show you, if I could do a video I'd show you how the timing changes - but I'm not that high tech. I've been wanting to buy something so maybe this is it and I could show you tomorrow. I'm going to Walmart, any suggestions?
There is a counterfeit part problem in the military sector, small wonder this is happening with car parts. It is probably more rampant than we would like to believe.
You know there is a lot of truth to that statement I've had a couple mad set-ups over the years that the stock hei setup rans better on in m not saying they are never needed but they were makei g some big numbers in the late 60s without msd dizzy and box a good pertronix and coil works really good Sent from my Pixel 2 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had a similar problem as the OP with a Rolex that was a piece of garbage, worse 500 pesos I ever spent.
The DUI HEI style ignition built for my GMC 6 by them has been setting records for over 20 years at El Mirage and Bonneville.
I'm running A MSD street fire ,I've had it about five years and is A good distributor. I bought it at A local advance auto parts store.
Older MSD stuff was good, quite reliable....but the last 3-4 years it has really gone down hill big-time It's a shame too. Shame that Mallory got buried in the deal too, their older stuff was reliable too....except for that crap UniLite.
I read some of these post and I wonder. How many people actually have had msd Mallory or what ever brand really go bad it's like this how many are sold ? ? If one out of 1000 end up burning up is that a lot ? Out of that 1000 how many had voltage spikes I've seen some peoples. Hackery on wiring look you can buy a brand new truck or car and be left stranded in this day and age 4 out of a thousand go bad and the internet keyboard warriors start then my uncle said or my cousin had one in his pinto go bad Sent from my Pixel 2 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In the aviation industry, counterfeit parts has been a significant problem for over 25 years. Bolts, and the parts for some tagged critical engine pieces are built from inferior materials and the only way of determining that it was a phony part, was after it had failed. There is so much profit involved that it is just like a honey pot for these crooks. If you ever wandered around the back streets of Hong Kong, Taipei, or Beijing, like I did, it was possible to find every manner of counterfeit merchandise. I never saw car parts, but I did see everything from copies of high quality machine tools to Rolex, and other high end watches. Some of the parts had up to a 50 ft guarantee. Bob
The Jalopy Journal
