Any Benefits To Aftermarket Distributor

Makdaddymac

New Member
May 28, 2005
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orlando
A guy at school today, typical BS's(smoking vettes etc) but has a nice sn197 says that someone he knows put a aftermarket dist. and gained 20hp? said the car felt like it just came off the assembly line and helped to bring up the powerband way above factory. I get it. better spark = more hp but you guys notice anything after switching to an aftermarket?
 
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Only if I put the stickers on too.

I'd be curious to know...mine has aftermarket coil and stuff from Crane....but the distributor itself is just a lowly Ford Motorsport piece still. :shrug:
 
stickers! i cant do that!!!!!, i dont think tranny could take the hp gain!
yeah i know its not a 20hp boost! but i was wondering if an aftermaket unit could effect the ol butt dyno, cause my dist. is an old stocker that looks rough?
 
technically, yes, better spark = more efficiency = more power. 20hp? HA! i highly doubt that, especially on a stock 4.6 with just an aftermarket dizzy. if anything you get better fuel mileage and quicker throttle response, but an aftermarket ignition box would be more ideal for those kind of improvements over just an aftermarket dizzy.
 
yeh i know the idea behind the ricer talk,at least he didnt tell me that his k&n filter made him pop wheelies, just seeing you guys opinions, i dont want a box. i got an msd coil it it might have done something??? i know for a fact that the car starts up easier with it? as soon i turn the key its boom(combustion) either that or my starter is on steroids??? seriously its weird sometimes the car cranks over then fires up, but i sware that thing just fires up when the battery isnt dead lol.....
 
i put a 6al on my car. haven't really noticed anything, but then again it's not the type of mod that will give you something to "feel" and i have a few other bugs to work out before i can fully benefit from the box anyway. if anything it's worth it for the rev limiter. if you decide to get a box eventually, MSD has a new line out they're calling streetfire. kind of a budget line from what i can tell. well they have a streetfire ignition box that sells for $150...i pulled out our MSD catalog at work and compared it to the 6al...it has the EXACT same specs all across the board! not only that, it has the built in dial rev limiter so you don't have to switch out/buy the stupid pills! makes me mad i spent as much as i did on my 6al.
 
I put an MSD billet in my 86 a while back and it's just a bolt on car right now. I didn't notice any SOTP power gain, but it really smoothed everything out at idle and under hard acceleration. That's about all I noticed other than it looks nice and shiny under the hood. I plan on some serious upgrades in the future though so I figured the new Dist. would come in handy eventually.
 
technically, yes, better spark = more efficiency = more power. 20hp? HA! i highly doubt that, especially on a stock 4.6 with just an aftermarket dizzy. if anything you get better fuel mileage and quicker throttle response, but an aftermarket ignition box would be more ideal for those kind of improvements over just an aftermarket dizzy.
4.6 are distributor less :shrug:
So a new dizzy might help :p
 
Well he said SN197 and there is no SN197. So its eaither a 94-04 SN95 or a 05+ S197.
The 94-95 SN95's had a dizzy though as they were still pushrods :nice:
 
i didnt even buy the dizzy, just the stickers, actually i didnt even buy em, i peeled em off this sick CRX i saw at pep boyzzz and pasted em on my car's hood with some lemer's glue, right next to the punisher sticker i got at wal mart. damn shyt yo you should see my whip, shyt str8 blows teh welds off the intake every time i race from an 90mph roll
 
on a boosted application a good ignition goes a long way. (i'm talking a box, not really a dizzy)

in a boosted motor the air density is much higher than N/A, making it more diffucult for the spark to efficiently jump the plug gap. having a good hot spark will help.

on my car when i had a vortech, stock igntion, car would break up REAL bad under higher boost. would sputter and cut out. reducing plug gap helped but it still did it.
i threw on an ignition box and noticed a huge difference. car idles and put around better too. the gain at WOT was awesome. i doubt it was from the box, but from the fact the air-fuel mix wasnt getting a complete burn with the stock igntion, thus not gettig full power. the new box helped it to completely burn better and thus getting more power pushing down on the piston. was able to open up the plug gap too.

but as far as a stock car with ignition upgrades, i doubt you will feel any gains, the stock igntion can generally handle stock power levels just fine.