Red Round MSD Blaster Ignition Coil

[biomedtechguy]

I bought the red, round (same shape as the stock coil) MSD Blaster coil yesterday and installed it on my 440 6 bbl in the stock HORIZONTAL position.
My question is: Is it ok to run this coil horizontal? Any reason to have it upright only? No instructions regarding this came with the coil. Thanks.
I have been wanting one of these, but yesterday (in my driveway, fortunately) the engine suddenly quit running and had no spark. The coil was the easiest swap and fixed the problem. Turns out I had a crappy "Select" brand coil that came with the car. As much as I have worked on the motor, I never noticed the generic brand coil...
I have a Chrysler electronic ignition, and I will be swapping the distributor and ECU soon. Looking at a MSD Digital AL and MSD billet distributor, but I am open to suggestions.

 

[eric383]

I have been through this dilemma also but years ago. Coil manufacturers will tell you that the oil filled coil needs to be mounted vertically because if it is mounted horizontally the winding's of the coil are not totally submerged. There is an epoxy filled coil which supposedly can be mounted horizontally but me being frugal and also a semi pack rat have a few oil filled hi performance coils so I just used one of these (MSD is the one I had) and it's been 5 years and no problem. I always carry a spare with me as well as a small tool bag as an insurance policy. Good luck.

P.S. I also painted the coil black so it looked stock.

 

[ykf7b0]

Call me lucky but my Accel round coil has been mounted horizontally for the past 15 years with no problems.

 

[Darter6]

Yeah, that always got me.But Ma Mopar always laid them on the side (other that the slant six)and they work for years.So what is right or wrong??

 

[biomedtechguy]

Thanks guys. I will contact MSD for their "official" word and post here, but on a Sunday morning I appreciate the help.
Any options or opinions on the MSD Digital 6AL and MSD Billet distributor? Other options?

 

[coloradodave]

I run the MSD6-AL and the MSD Billet distributor along with a horizontally mounted MSD Blaster coil. Very happy with the products. The timing curve is easy to change without having to disassemble the distributor and the motor never misses a beat. Highly recommend these products.

 

[Dennis H]

Blaster. Horizontal. I'm with Dave. Got the black high-vibration version.

 

[GetX'd]

I have the MSD Blaster coil as well. Have it mounted horizontally with no problems to date. Have always had my coils mounted that way w/o incident. Also have the MSD pro billet ready to run distributor. So far it has worked beautifully.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Thanks for the replies. I have a FOB custom curved distributor, ECU, and Flamethrower (Petronix) coil ordered. Going to install them and actually start using the vacuum advance for the first time. Also I will set the rev limiter at 6200 RPM and see if I hit it as that seems to be where my near stock 440 likes to go, although I'm sure horsepower is probably peaking closer to 56-57k. I appreciate Don's questions that he asked about the motor, rear end gear, trans, cam, etc. I will report back on it. I will be driving 2 1/2 hrs each way to Mopars at the Battleship right after the install, so it should be a good test.

 

[BBishere2]

Mancini Racing has a coil bracket that will mount your coil vertically on the intake manifold. I believe I read somewhere that the blaster coil should be mounted vertically due to the oil fill.

 

[biomedtechguy]

It is on a shelf in my garage now. It is a capacitor-based control module compatable coil and should NOT be used with an induction based ECU like the Mopar ECUs because it draws too much current.
I just installed a custom curved FBO distributor and control box with their Flamethrower (Petronix) ignition coil, the rev limiter works great, and the whole concept of their system is solid. I am now utilizing the vacuum advance capability of the system, and it uses CONSTANT manifold vacuum as its source. Very cool and intelligently thought out. Coil is oil filled and mounted in the stock horizontal position. Epoxy filled coil was not recommended due to heat build up.

 

[moparedtn]

There's nothing wrong with using the Blaster 2 with stock ignition systems; there is one caveat, however.
Quoting from their tech data:
"When using the Blaster Coil with a points or stock style distributor, a 0.8 Ohm ballast resistor must be installed in-line of the positive wire. Failure to use a ballast resistor could result in personal injury or component failure."

In my own very recent experience, I had experimented with various resistors to get the voltage I wanted to the coil on my own Blaster 2 with my Mopar electronic ignition system - and wound up buying the exact resistor from MSD that they recommend in their own tech data for the coil:
http://documents.msdperformance.com/8202.pdf

Guess I coulda just read their tech data first, eh?
Oh well, as long as I came to the correct conclusion....

 

[Car Nut]

There is an epoxy filled coil which supposedly can be mounted horizontally

MSD 8222 works excellent and heat will not harm it.

 

[kiwigtx]

MSD Blaster Anti-vibration coil is in my next order from Summinabatchin' Racing.

 

[biomedtechguy]

It is recommended to mount the PN 8202 and 8223 coils in an upright position.
The High Vibration Coil, PN 8222, can be mounted in any position due to its epoxy potting compound......well how about that! Right there in the instructions (lol). Strange that the stock and Petronix coils don't specify vertical mounting positions...they are oil filled too.
Also adding the resistor reduces current, and current can generate heat, so I assume that resistor would prevent the stock ECU from "burning up"...I would have to look at the wiring layout to calculate the actual effect of the resistor in that location. Anyway, the FBO system is in and working great, while the 2 week old gently used MSD coil is on the shelf. ;-)

 

[moparedtn]

It is recommended to mount the PN 8202 and 8223 coils in an upright position.
The High Vibration Coil, PN 8222, can be mounted in any position due to its epoxy potting compound......well how about that! Right there in the instructions (lol). Strange that the stock and Petronix coils don't specify vertical mounting positions...they are oil filled too.
Also adding the resistor reduces current, and current can generate heat, so I assume that resistor would prevent the stock ECU from "burning up"...I would have to look at the wiring layout to calculate the actual effect of the resistor in that location. Anyway, the FBO system is in and working great, while the 2 week old gently used MSD coil is on the shelf. ;-)

Yeah, once I deduced that the former owner of mine had wired the Mopar electronic ignition incorrectly, research commenced. When I confirmed what I thought I remembered from long ago, that Mopar and MSD both insisted on having the ballast, it was then just a matter of figuring out which one.
I've got the coil mounted on the inner fender, right under the windshield washer fluid reservoir. "Hides" nicely under there and stays away from engine heat.

 

[hangn0ut]

I had 2 coils fail from being mounted horizontal. Both leaked oil out the high tension lead.