i dont know much about MSD besides its a little red box peole have bolted into the firewall of their car or anywhere else they please but my question is how does the MSD system affect the overall performance of a car and do the stock distributor or anything else have to be changed to accomodate the MSD??

http://www.msdignition.com/

Well when it comes to electronics, you almost have to change everything that's connected to it in order to get out the full potential. If you add a box, that increases the energy you're sending to your plugs. But that won't make it that far without a new coil. Then you'll burn up your distributor caps and rotors with all that voltage, so you need to upgrade those. The stock distributor will never be able to keep up with a new MSD box. New wires are a must in order to carry that new found energy to the plugs. Finally, you'll need new plugs so that they don't foul every 3,000 miles and gap them correctly. The only place I don't use MSD is for my wires because I have had problems with them having a short lifespan. Caps and rotors have short lifespans anyways. I also have ac delco plugs gapped at 45 becuase I have HEI, which should be the only way to go nowadays. Good luck, and if you're really serious about it, I really like the new digital boxes by MSD where you can change timing, rpm limiter and everything else right there on the box with the turn of a screwdriver. Hope this helps. graemlins/beers.gif

seawolf06 The stock distributor will never be able to keep up with a new MSD box.
Finally, you'll need new plugs so that they don't foul every 3,000 miles and gap them correctly. Not true

I cam across this at BadAss racing engine's website:

Q: When do I need an after market ignition system?

A: Probably never! All of the after market ignition companies claim that you'll get more horsepower by using their ignition system. I hate to burst bubbles but the fact is, numerous independent dyno studies have shown no gain what so ever! Don't get me wrong. I like a lot of after market ignitions and my own blown and nitroused car uses one as well. The object of the game is to ignite the cylinder. Once the cylinder is lit, it's lit. It either fires or it doesn't. I can't tell you how many racers and street buffs I know that have small fortunes invested in their ignition systems when GM's stock HEI system would have done the same job... if not better! Ford has the worst stock (electronic) ignitions systems. Their factory modules stink. They have the least amount of dwell time and the most expensive price. Chrylser has a great module that will saturate the heck out of the coil, causing a big spark. A neat trick is to use a Chrysler module on a Ford engine. It really wakes-up the coil. I can't tell you how many people say that you can't run an HEI distributor an a high performance engine because they "sputter" after 6,000 RPM. Say that to our Super Gasser that runs 9.90's all day long and goes through the lights at almost 8,000 RPM without a glitch. I took that MSD 7AL2 box, billet distributor and funky coil and trashed 'em because they were doing strange things and dropping cylinders when the car came-off the trans brake at 6,500RPM. I've had people come-up and say "hey, you can't run an HEI distributor at those RPM's", as they watch the car go down the track without a glitch! You can't check those elaborate ignition systems and when they need fixing, you've either got to send them back and wait 2 weeks or spend a fortune on a new one. I've built street cars that run 11's and 12's using HEI ignitions and stock Ford distributors using Chrysler modules, and when you hear one of those engines wound-up to 8,000 RPM without a sputter you'll be a believer!

I run a MSD 6A and Billet distributer. Runs great, been in 5 years, Ive only changed plugs once, when I had to teardown after the roller lfters tie-bar broke-big mess. It is true that MSD boxes are a little harder on dist caps and rotos, I have to change mine about every 30,000 miles or so. I also ran my 6A box with the stock 20.00 points system from Kragen, it also worked flawlessly except for having to change points, I'm lazy so I opted for the electronic dist.. MSD boxes do work, ask anyone you have hooked up an osciloscope to a car with MSD, They are worth the money. Look under the hood of ANY cup car or truck. They all run an ignition box, or two.

I think djgaleana hit the nail on the head. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors marketing hype out there that would have you believe your car will be much faster with the fancy ignition boxes --- its just not true. There ARE advantages to running a multispark box, but going faster is not one of them.

I switched from a recurved Acce; HEI to an MSD dist and 6AL box and there was NO ET improvement. However, the car does idle smoother with a lumpy cam and at a lower RPM. Also, the mechanical advance mechanism is much easier to adjust and is of a much higher quality than OEM and OEM copy HEI distributors.

Bottom line --- spend your money on other go fast parts if you are "bucks down".

They are worth the money if you are running very fast in the quarter or other racing. The multiple spark system mostly works at idle and off idle. At full throttle its one spark. If you hook up the car with the msd to an ignition scope you will see a difference. It wont give any additional power, but rather help you get there. If you have a lot of cylinder pressure the more powerful spark shall help ignite the mixture better. You can open the plug gap up wider to get a more complete burn. You should see the tester we have at school. The teacher opened the gap to 1.5 inches and that thing was still as strong as it was at normal gap. The thing was buzzing away and i had to cover my ears cause it was too loud. He burned a piece of paper in the spark also. Pretty neat stuff.

Add cylinder pressure and the gap jump is a whole different story.

I think people look at the boxes for the wrong reasons. Everyone thinks more power. What about all the other quirk and perks you get with them? Like 2 step rev limiters , delay box, timing retard/advance etc.. there is more to a ignition box then just "more spark".

I ran an MSD dist only because it fit my camaro when an HEI wouldn't. Same electronics as a MSD module though. Now I hate to try and curve a stocker after working with a MSD dist. The only reason I even look at a 6AL or others is a rev limiter. A start retard might help some people though.

Read Dr. Jacob's book. He's a PHD and comes right out and says they don't understand everthing about spark ignition. The CD multispark systems help idle and part throttle because they lower the percentage of misfires. Note I didn't say eliminate. This improves idle and mileage.
It's all right there in the book.