Wholesale ignition swap

Apparently, MSD isn't what they used to be. I had been having several tuning issues that I could not resolve consistantly. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I discovered my distributor was not returning from mechanical advance. Set the initial at 12 BTDC, drive the car and when you checked it again it was at varying ranges from 24 to 28 BTDC. Shut down the engine and most of the time it would return to 12...most of the time. A few times I had to roll start because the timing was so high, that 10.1:1 motor would not spin. I do have a PMGR starter. This seems to be an issue with MSD's in Fords (or any front distributor set up) and the fix is to send the distributor to MSD along with $140, they recoat the shaft, and send it back. Problem is; next year the issue rears its ugly head again.

After much internet investigating; I chose Todd Meyer's distributor....but it was not available in August and they weren't sure when it would be available again.

Next option was a good old Duraspark. I talked to the folks at Performance Distributors. They first recommended an HEI set up. Not judging those that have, but this old boy does not like the appearance of that huge cap and coil set up displayed on the front of a small block Ford. 

After several emails about their Duraspark, I decided that was my direction.

Some of the best money I've spent.

I bought the entire set up from them including the distributor, coil, and extended dwell spark box. After a quick & dirty installation; all I can say is HOLY MOLY! There was quite a bit of power unleashed and several frustrating tuning issues are gone.

I had a sputter that I could not tune out. Apparently, I fighting that over advanced timing. Their timing curve almost matches what I had set up exactly (had the dist been perfoming correctly...). Another cured issue was hard starting after sitting for a week. It was a 10 minute ordeal to get the rumble going. Now...as soon as fuel pressure gauge shoes pressure (about 5 spins of the engine), it fires. Very smooth power now from idle to WOT. The ED box also has a built in rev limiter...another bonus.

For full disclosure, I did install a new set of 8.5mm plug wires and a fresh set of plugs. I went with the Summit Racing wires (cut to fit) and good old Autolite plugs.

I had my other tach modified by Rocketman to run as God intended (- side of the coil) so that's next in installation.

Yes, it's a 12V coil. I wired in a relay that the 7V coil wire will trigger. I had my tach converted and will be eliminating that from the positive side. I have this thing about not cutting factory wiring harnesses, so the relay was the right answer for me.