MSD 6 Box, New Vs older

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Just curious on the new ones tell us the good, bad and ugly of it.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

oh boy, this will get interesting.

I ran one on a car for a year, worked fine until I sold it, but it’s factory or old Mallory for me

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

With what I do I get alot of questions on them. Would like to have a better answer than find a older nos one.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Yeah, I’m interested in the real world reviews too

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Tell you what the Mopar ECU's that are "authorised or replaces" with a transistor that is fake suck badly. Won't touch them.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

I think the MSD have serial numbers be interesting to get a around when they went bad number from them.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Have an MSD=6AL from the early 90's, never used it, no help there. Running a orange box from the 80's no issues.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I ran one in the 70's...

 

[Paul_B]

I’m running a MSD 6AL that I bought in the late 1990’s. Still running good.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

The original instruction sheet from the 70's states lifetime warranty, if it fails send it back & it will ne repaired and returned at no charge...

 

[Black_Sheep]

My old 6AL lasted 18 years before shitting the bed. The new one is 4 years old and still running strong…

 

[gooser]

i have one of the first msd boxes from mopar the 404bc still in the car and works great after 50 years

 

[Don67Satellite]

My car had a MSD 6A in it with the box mounted under the dash. It *looked* rather old. It was also very noisy. The transformer inside had a nasty buzzing sound that I read was quite common with the original 6A's. When I bought my new Pertronix billet distributor I decided to replace it with the Digital 6A box, which is silent, and have had no ignition issues whatsoever.

 

[lewtot184]

I got away from those ignition boxes that have all those stand offs on the coil decades ago and would never go back to them. I had a Mopar vendor tell me several years ago that the new msd stuff had a 25% failure rate; don't know how true that is. I have electronic Mopar style stuff on both my cars and it works very well for me, but I'm marching back towards point ignition now. I hate electronics on an old car, but I understand some racers needing electronics to be competitive at the track. Most of us don't need the junk we strap ourselves to.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Nothing at all with a points system. They last 10K miles before changing if you get high quality points and condenser preferably NOS or NORS.

 

[lewtot184]

i've spent thousands of dollars and countless hours chasing the ignition "holy grail". i've got boxes of parts, all usable, but nothing has really satisfied my search for the "ideal". most of it is a gadget to put a band-aid on a poor tune-up. a lot of it is monkey see-monkey do crap from some internet/magazine motor messiah. after years of chasing stuff i believe that for an electronic ignition you'd have to go a long way to beat a simple chrome box with proper ignition curve for the engine. but, being electronic it's like a light bulb; you'll only turn it on so many times before it goes out. i'm creeping back towards the basics because they are less likely to leave you stuck alongside the road.

 

[mmissile]

I have 5 older 6AL's in a box in the garage. They all worked great when removed from project cars. I've never personally had a MSD unit go bad, but I'm about to buy a new "programable/digital" unit. I'm hoping for the best.

I'm selling the older units for 200 each.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Might have a guy for one. Look nice?

 

[RJRENTON]

Have an MSD=6AL from the early 90's, never used it, no help there. Running a orange box from the 80's no issues.

When I first got the '70 GTX, RS23V0A******, the prior owner had installed a MSD 6C, under the battery tray...the MSD with the Mopar type 5 prong plug on one end and triggered by a Mopar electronic distributor. My fix was to: remove ALL MSD stuff, including the distributor wiring etc....and deposit all that stuff in the round file.....went back to the origional Prestolite dual point distributor, coil, ballast resistor zbd wiring.....abd NEVER looked back AND do not regret doing so......just my opinion of course.....
BOB RENTON

 

[33 IMP]

Replied to the same question and poll, on the A side. Pic of 40 year old msd that still works....
...and the 40 year old Mallory that I'm actually still using.
(Both companies bought by holley, quality suffers, prices skyrocket.)