Finally Getting Around To Ignition Upgrade

This had me knocked down a few times on the 23rd, had to lay flat on my back behind the counter. Then I'd be good again for about 20 minutes then down again I went. Finally made it in to the Doc got some Flexorell and Aleve but that didn't do a thing. Luckily the back stretch exercises after three days and I'm on my way back. This was only a muscle injury, but it sure got my attention!

 

I got the MSD wires yesterday and I brought the Accel No.1 wire with me to work. I'm used to the Accel crimper and this one from MSD is a little different. Going to figure it out today and then get on to the rest of the wiring.

 

So opening the kit I found two styles of crimp terminals;


These terminals are described as the bronze colored Standard, and the silver colored Dual Crimp
I'm using the MSD Cap-a-Dapt and I believe the 90* Dual Crimp is what I shound be using, or could I be wrong?

 

The brass ones look like spark plug ends. They are too long to work with the old-style cup boots, and wrong for the right-angle HEI type. I recall you need the right angle ones for the post style. You can try the terminal on the cap and it should click on tightly. Put the wire through the boot, then clamp on the terminal. Use the lubricant to get the terminal to back into the boot. This style of connection is very positive once you put it together.

 

When I bought em I got the ones factory made for my motor. I didn't wanna mess with making terminals..

 

It hadn't occurred to me that MSD made a wire set for the AMC V8

 

Yup..

 

Oh well, live and learn.

One thing I didn't see in the instructions was the wire labels ~ Note: It's much easier to slip these on before crimping the terminals on.

 

The labels are a nice feature!

 

Yeah Tim, I didn't think they'd be included in a universal kit, pretty slick.

 

...another tip: When stripping the wire using the sizing crimping block included in the Universal Set use extra caution NOT to cut the Helically wound copper alloy conductor #8



I found out the hard way and ruined two wires.

 

THIS IS IMPORTANT

When stripping the wire to expose the conductive strands it is nesessary when pulling the outer shielding from the wire to be pushing the core oppositely. The reason for this is the core strands are so tightly enclosed by the inner sleeve it can become unraveled leaving you to cut and start again!




I used a ball point pen to poke through and it worked well.

 

On the first wire I tried for cylinder #1 it got roached to the point that it was too short. The good folks at MSD though siad they'd send me a new wire cut to length and all set up. These guys are on my 'great' list.

 

I got the E coil comin' in after the weekend. I went with the Blue Streak as SMP has been my go-to since the '80's

 

Well, I had a custom mounting from the P.O. for the canister coil and I was able to modify it to fit the e coil prettry easily with a cut off wheel and my bench grinder.














I then just drilled two matching holes for the smaller bosses on the coil and it's very snug.

Read more: Turbogus' long slow Team Rush upgrade - Page 2

 

It was a tight fit, on account of the forward vacuum hose but it's tight and installed now. Since I moved the distributor when I added that alignment tab I'll re-time the motor to spec.





I've got to get some dielectic grease on the rotor tip and tab before I forget.

Read more: Turbogus' long slow Team Rush upgrade - Page 2

 

Good Job Gus. I used a MSD coil on mine. Same same it looks like

 

Thanks Zila, I just ran across a photo of the stock location of the spark plug wires, I wish I'd have seen that before I began this adventure.






There was a bunch of white paint on the dampner pulley making it near impossible to zoom in on the timing mark. So I rotated the crank by hand and wire brushed to paint off until I could find the mark. I then used a paint pen to enhance visibilty, I still have yet to mark the timing marks, was hoping after cleaning up a marker would suffice to enhance the lettering.

I pulled the spark plugs on the left bank and sure enough, they were fuel fouled. I could clean them up with my HF mini sandblaster spark plug cleaner, but if it's not premature I'm thinking I'm going to go with Autolite 646's for the larger gap. I have yet to purchase and install the MSD 6 yet, I want to sort out the tune of the motor first.

 

Well I finally found the Autolite 646 plugs in town, but the Copper Never Seize 11 miles away. So much for the consumer desert.

 

Before I pollute those new 646 plugs I ran the 65's through my mini sandblaster spark plug cleaner. It took a while, I think I need some new media but I only need a couple of fistfuls worth.
I gapped 'em out to 45 and stopped short. I've been zombie'n hard between sleep interference from this CPAP I'm mandated to use at night and the 11 hour day at the dock yesterday.