It's Been an Electricfrying Week

[pontiacgp]

I posted the other say my MSD box fried and now today my MSD E curve fried. Stating last nite on the drive home the idle would increase so today I looked to see if the fast idle was sticking, it wasn't, so I checked to see if there was any vacuum leaks, none. The idle had dropped down to where is was supposed to me so I scratched my head, grabbed a coffee and went for a test drive. After a little while the car bucked real hard then smoothed out, then let out an impressive backfire and died. I tried to start it and it acted like the timing was way too advanced. I got it started and it acted like nothing was wrong, so I got to where I was going and grabbed my spare E curve and switched distributors. It runs great now so I'm wondering how long that E curve was making me chase problems that were all in the distributor. MSD is great as long as you have spares.....

 

[tc1959]

MSD, Well there's your problem.....

 

[TURNA]

Did you check the power supply wire?

Jiggle it around see if there is any difference.

I swore up and down at one point my MSD was out when it was the wire.

 

[pontiacgp]

Did you check the power supply wire?

Jiggle it around see if there is any difference.

I swore up and down at one point my MSD was out when it was the wire.

I luv this forum, with all your experience you don't overlook the basic stuff which in alot of cases is the problem....thanks.

the E curve has a 3 wire connector that is just plugged to the existing set up so if that was the problem it would show up with my spare E curve

 

[pontiacgp]

MSD, Well there's your problem.....

on all our race cars we had a set up like this...just in case.....

 

[TURNA]

If there is a break in the wire or a bad connection somewhere in the line it may be sporadic.

The distributor has nothing to do with it.

Yes sometimes the simple thing are overlooked.

 

[pontiacgp]

If there is a break in the wire or a bad connection somewhere in the line it may be sporadic.

The distributor has nothing to do with it.

Yes sometimes the simple thing are overlooked.

I put my backup distributor through the paces and it works great so I think the wiring can be ruled out. I don't think the wiring could cause the timing to advance but the distributor could. The way the timing is set with the E curve is you lock out the distributor and set the total timing you want, 34 degrees or whatever you want. Then you set the 2 dial to the advance curve you want. The timing is locked out when you are starting the car until you are over 600 rpm. Then the distributor kicks in and takes away the timing and advances the times according to the curve you set up. If the distributor is screwed it could allow the total timing to be the when you are starting the car which happened when I triad to start it after the backfire.

 

[motorheadmike]

Time to LS swap it and enjoy cheap, reliable, and powerful factory coils.

 

[pontiacgp]

Time to LS swap it and enjoy cheap, reliable, and powerful factory coils.

no thanks, these are minor issues. I bough that ignition box for $80 4 years ago and and the E curve distributor cost me $250. My back up E curve cost me $300 and I got that 4 years ago. But I also got 2 flat tires this summer so I'm thinking of this conversion....

 

[axisg]

so with the failure rates of these MSD boxes what is the draw ? I know the guys that use them seem to love them but why ? Yeah I guess its cool to have a rev limiter, and adjustable timing from your drivers seat but beyond that is there some other benefit ?
Friend of mine has been bugging me for a long time to switch over to an MSD box but I am very reluctant