Carlos' Review On MSD Ignition
Name: Carlos
Email: CJ43927
Product: MSD Ignition System
Model: MSD6A Rev Limiter, Blaster SS Coil, Fuel/Tach Adaptor
Store: WWW.JEGS.COM
Price: $234.97 plus shipping and tax
Car: 89 Nissan 240SX SE
Worth_it: Yes
Difficulty_Rating: 4
Date: 17 Aug 1999
Problems
Their were no major problems with the install. The only minor problem was mounting the MSD in a good location. That was the most time consuming of the install. Once the MSD box, coil, and tach adapter were mounted, connecting the wires took five minutes.
Tips
All tips are based on 89 and 90 SINGLE CAM engine bays. If you have the factory air box in place, then you will have to mount the MSD somewhere else. For those of you who have an air intake filter, you will notice two red mounts on the drivers side wheel well where the factory air box bolted to for support. I used a pair of pliers to grab the upper mount. By twisting it back and forth, it will break right off, leave the lower half mount with two overlapping circluar holes. The I used a peg of wood and place it under the mount directly under the hole. Then I measured out a piece of wood around 4 inch by 10 inch and used it for the base of the MSD6AL. The base was bolt in the middle through the hole and into the peg of wood. This will hold the base down and prevent it from coming loose. The MSD was then bolt down on the base of wood. If you use the four vibration mounts, the hood won't close. The Blaster coil was then mounted on the wheel well, very close to the MSD. You want to put the coil somewhere were their is air flow and away from direct heat. I had to drill three holes to mount down the coil. Here I did use the supplied vibration mounts, pressure washers and nuts. The washers and nuts were used on the inner part of the wheel well where the tire is. The tach adapter was mounted right next to the fuse box right under my K&N filter. Once this is done, everything else is down hill. Remember to disconnect the battery. When connecting the MSD system, use the Points/Amplifier style ignition setup in the MSD manuel. If you get the complete system like I did, connecting all the wires will be easy. Their are only three wires that need explaining. First is the RED WIRE that connects to the IGNITION KEY. The ignition key wire will be the BLACK WIRE WITH A RED LINE that wires under and into the factory ignition coil. Next is the WHITE WIRE that connects to the POINTS OR ELECTRONIC IGNITION AMPLIFIER. This points or amp wire will be the GREEN WIRE WITH A BLACK LINE right next to the black wire with a red line that also runs into the factory ignition coil from underneath. In other words, the two wires you need to connect from the MSD6AL will be found in the wire harness of the factory coil. When you connect these pairs of wires, you also need to connect one black wire from the tach adapter to one pair and the other black wire from the adapter to the other pair. In other words, you will have a pair of three wires joining together. That should be simple to understand. Since I have 8.5 Magnecor wires, the coil wire will need to be modified to fit the Blaster SS Coil. I pulled the black boot inwards and uncrimped the metal connector and crimp on the new coil connector supplied with the coil. Make sure the wire connects with the metal piece. You can then squeeze the black rubber boot together to slide down into the coil for complete connection.
Thoughts
Thanks to Pete, the car started up in the first try. The base made of wood became an eye sore. So I spray painted it red to match everything else. The MSD6AL and Blaster SS Coil look great. The car feels REBORN!!! Now the engine doesn't have to work as hard for performance. Just a push on the gas pedal and the car takes off by itself!
Other
To fully get the most out of the MSD system, you must up grade your spark plug wires to 8.5mm super conductor wires such as MSD Heli-Core or Magnecore. Note that solid core spark plug wires can not be used with an MSD Ignition. Also, MSD can not be used on vehicles with distributorless ignition systems. Here are the model numbers I used and would recommend. MSD6A with Rev Limiter part#6420, MSD Blaster SS Coil part#8207, Fuel/Tach Adaptor part#8910.