Accel, Crane, Mallory, Pertronix

bnickel · Mar 17, 2008

learn something everyday.

BarnStang · Mar 17, 2008

http://www.pbmperformance.com/splash.php

freddiecougar · Mar 18, 2008

BarnStang said:
http://www.pbmperformance.com/splash.php

Wow. Not even close. PBM.....not exactly interchangeable with EPW.

woodsnake · Mar 18, 2008

Is there a reason nobody has brought up a Ford Duraspark distributor? With an MSD box, what's not to love? All the bennies of modern electronic ignition, easy cheap replacement distributor/parts.

BarnStang · Mar 18, 2008

Here is the link I was looking for. Couldn't find it at home. EPW and PBM are joined somehow, at least in the website...
http://www.enginepartswarehouse.net

freddiecougar · Mar 18, 2008

BarnStang said:
Here is the link I was looking for. Couldn't find it at home. EPW and PBM are joined somehow, at least in the website...
http://www.enginepartswarehouse.net

AHA!
I'm not losing my mind.....

On the Ford Duraspark subject, they work flawlessly for amost any street car.
I had one wired to plug into my MSD for years, never had a problem. I bracked raced it, abused it, blew who knows how many bottles of Nitrous through it, never had a problem. They are cheap, plentiful, and reliable. Not pretty, but you can't have everything.

bnickel · Mar 18, 2008

woodsnake said:
Is there a reason nobody has brought up a Ford Duraspark distributor? With an MSD box, what's not to love? All the bennies of modern electronic ignition, easy cheap replacement distributor/parts.

actually if you look a few posts up you'll see that 69 G-machine mentioned it and then i seconded it as well. if you want to keep the engine bay looking stock your best options are one of the conversion kits like the accel, mallory and pertronix or a duraspark dizzy with either the stock module or an MSD or mallory ignition box hidden inside the car somewhere.

LMan · Mar 18, 2008

DuraSpark + MSD = Life is good!

Ogre · Mar 19, 2008

Not that I am going to do it anytime soon, but if I went to AutoZone to get a duraspark set up, what would I ask for? What is the best year distributor? Also, what year ignition module would I need? Any idea of the total cost I would be looking at?

grainboy · Mar 19, 2008

Duraspark

I am completely satified with my duraspark, and I trust it completely. I currently use a gm HEI module for the electronic trigger, but can easily mate to a MSD, Accell or whatever kind od CD box is available. Right now, Summit is selling a digital copy of the 6A, for about 130. That is what I'm leaning towards now.

woodsnake · Mar 19, 2008

You can go to the junk yard and usually the distributor and all the related wiring for under fifty dollars. If you want to get a new duraspark distributor, I believe the first year for them was 1974(?). Just substitute your engine I.E. 5.0 0r 5.8.
About the only thing to try and be aware of is the built in timing of the plate. I'm not sure what years are better or worse than others. If you google 'durapsark conversion' you'll find out all kinds of information.
I spent the money for a complete MSD set up for my W, distributor,coil, wires, 6al, and for the money, a durspark and 6a or 6al is the way to go. I have never been a huge fan of the optical triggered ignitions, even though I bought one of the earlier pertronix, and have never had a problem with it. I just like the reluctor style better.

cardude · Mar 19, 2008

I just purchased the Crane trigger but not yet installed, anyone have any good or bad input on it??

69gmachine · Mar 19, 2008

Ogre said:
Not that I am going to do it anytime soon, but if I went to AutoZone to get a duraspark set up, what would I ask for? What is the best year distributor? Also, what year ignition module would I need? Any idea of the total cost I would be looking at?

Use the ignition module with the blue strain relief. They were used on a variety of cars, trucks and vans from 1975 to 1985. If you need to tell the counterparts man a vehicle, use a 1985 F150 if you have a 302, and an E350 if you have a 351W, but you still need to verify that what they hand you has the blue relief. I have never seen one go bad unless it was in a fire or destroyed in a crash. I've seen lots of people (myself included) shotgun troubleshoot their ignition problem, and the module is never what caused the problem (or fixed it).

As for cost, go back and read my first response.

The duraspark distributors use both vacuum and centrifugal advance, so I don't know what the comment about the "fixed" plate refers to in a previous response. I tried an MSD 6AL once upon a time, but the plain jane Ford blue module idled better and kept the plugs cleaner longer, so I sold the MSD box at a swap meet. Like any electronic ignition, make sure you supply 12 volts to the coil.

bnickel · Mar 19, 2008

you can also buy a brand new durapsark dizzy from Pro-Form for about $150. that's the route i plan on going personally.

http://store.summitracing.com/partd...881256+4294908331+4294840125+115&autoview=sku

woodsnake · Mar 20, 2008

Sometimes I think faster than I type, this is what I was referring to:

http://reincarnation-automotive.com/Duraspark_distributor_recurve_instructions_index.html

I have a friend that spends some time on here, and he has customized his advance curve by modifying the braker plate in the distributor.
As I understand it, different vehicles may have come with different mechanical advance. I was just trying to point out some potential differences.

NasaGT · Mar 20, 2008

You guys just saved me a bunch of "search" time, I've been meaning to research Duraspark dizzys for 351w for a while now. Thanks for the excellent posts.

69gmachine · Mar 20, 2008

woodsnake said:
Sometimes I think faster than I type, this is what I was referring to:

http://reincarnation-automotive.com/Duraspark_distributor_recurve_instructions_index.html

I have a friend that spends some time on here, and he has customized his advance curve by modifying the braker plate in the distributor.
As I understand it, different vehicles may have come with different mechanical advance. I was just trying to point out some potential differences.

Yes, different vehicles will have different curves. It was a very good article. As it states, you can recurve the distributor easily with a spring and weight kit, but unless you have a dyno to tune with, you may cost yourself some HP. The more efficient the combustion chamber is, the less total timing you need. Total timing should be in by 2700-3000. Some examples I have found for how much total timing different heads make the best power are:

351 W (Iron) = 36
351 C Closed Chamber (Iron) 35
AFR 185 = 34
CHI 3V = 27

When I had my P II distributor curved, they set it up for 16 degrees initial and 34 total, so it would only have an additional 18 degrees of combined vacuum and mechanical advance. If it had been set up for say 10 degrees initial, it would need an additional 24 degrees before hitting the stops. If I back off the inititial timing now and set it at 10 degrees, I will only have 28 total, and that will cost HP throughout the curve... unless I switch over to the CHI 3V heads and intake.

bnickel · Mar 20, 2008

mine has 22 degrees in the dizzy and i set it for 14 initial to give me 36 total. i can still get 32 degrees if i knock it down to 10 initial, but it prefers 14 initial anyway

JonK · Mar 25, 2008

I have the Crane XR-i module and PS20 plain black coil in my '67 289 Coupe, hope it's ok to piggyback on your thread as it appies to your original question before I start another one. I like that has a rev limiter built in, it's small and you can adjust by ~1K increments only becaus it's so small but that's ok for me I just set it for 6K for protection.

I like Crane products and have had good results in the past, however I'm on my second unit and it's starting to act as the first and I'm just trying to figure out if it's something else on my car or the coil. After driving for 15 min. or 1 hr. it shuts off the car w/o notice and I have to switch back to points to figure it out-frustrating.

First time I learned that there is a resistor built in after the ign. in the '67, I was also running the ballast that came with the PS20 coil, ok resistance dropped until too low for spark, car dies, stop, open cap-tap crane ign. mod., car starts, repeat sometime same day.
2nd module, no resistor at coil, same scenerio occurs ~1 week later, stop, tap module, start, go until...?

My next step is to bypass the stock ign. resistor wire to eliminate it as it's 40+yrs. old, right? This will give full juice to the coil so I'll reinstall the resistor. I have checked voltage at the coil and it read as the Crane instructions did.

Has anyone had this same scenerio with the Crane or any of the topic mentioned systems? What should my resolution be, I don't want to send back another presumably good unit and do this again without solving the problem.
Thanks, Jon

Accel, Crane, Mallory, Pertronix

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