What ignition system are y'all using?

[familymopar]

I am getting tired of my orange box.  I am on my third in less years.  My spare I carry around is now installed and I have no spares.  Before ordering a few more to keep around I figured I would bring it up here.

I have long since found that when my car has troubles or goes dead on the road, I have a 9/10 chance it is the orange box.  Usually a few whaps with a butt end of a screwdriver, or in a couple cases a cell phone, gets me going again just fine.  This is unsatisfactory.

I am considering going with one of those all-in-one distributor jobs, that does away with the ballast resistor and the ecm, but I know very little about them.  I am also considering ecm systems along the lines of the MSD, but I would honestly dislike seeing the big red box under there, or screwing new holes if I can avoid it.

What are you guys running?  How do you like it?  If you are running an orange box, are you having the same 'relatively' consistent problems as me?

[Ghoste]

I have what you have but I'm going to a Firecore unit.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I have the msd ready to run distributor. Love it. No complaints here.

[tan top]

mopar orange  box & matching distributor ,  last year was about to buy the  the new MSD  digital 7al complete ignition set up , but they  filed for bankruptcy or something

[familymopar]

These are both no ecm distributors?  I have heard good stuff about firecore, and I run their wires, and of course msd has great products.  Like I said, if I stick with an ecm I don't want something glaringly obvious, but I am open to deleting it completely for a distributor set up.

I have a rev n nator and really enjoyed the customer service from Troy and his wife Laura.  But after about a year I had similar problems with it.  I never did disengage the vacuum advance though and they did recommend that, even though they said plenty of people run fine without disengaging it.  Maybe I should get back talking with them.  Now that I think about that rev n nator, maybe I have a wiring problem, as I suppose it would be odd to be getting the same results with an orange box and the rev n nator since I believe their only real similarity is external looks.  Hmm, maybe I have a larger problem...

[familymopar]

tan top and ghoste, do y'all have problems with the orange box?  i.e. do you have to smack it with a screwdriver every once in a while?

Is anybody running the rev n nator having similar problems?

[Bob T]

I have a Rev n Nator as well, I put it in last October along with a new dizzy and coil at the same time and its been fine.
I also like the fact that its stockish appearing and has a built in rev limiter. Car makes good power with it too.
Also had  mates  install the kits in a 70 Charger and a 70 GTX, all good there as well

[Ghoste]

Not with this one so far but I've had trouble with orange and chrome Mopar ecu's in the past.

[tan top]

 yes !!! this is how it went ,
   the day I put the complete mopar electronic set up in ! dialed the vacuum & mechanical advance etc   , had it running & testing all day really !   went out for a  blast down the street ! etc     it ran awesome !!    parked it back in the garage , job done !
 next time I went to fire the motor , no start ?? traced it to the magnetic pick up in the distributor !!  , fitted a new pick up  , been no problems ever since ,  but I do have a couple spare orange boxes , magnetic pickups , & resistors just in case  , also have a points distributor all ready to go in a emergency side of the road thing  , should the electronic one fail   because have heard  loads of stories of guys having problems  , maybe I was lucky just having one problem early on , if you do go with set up make sure the orange box has a good ground , I even ran a dedicated ground wire to it & the electronic voltatage  regulator , direct from the battery ,  i'm nuts like that  
 I don't think Mopar performance are making the RB electronic distributors any more ,

lots of guys  like the fire core set up , & never have any problems with it , that ive read on here or moparts !

[familymopar]

I have a Rev n Nator as well, I put it in last October along with a new dizzy and coil at the same time and its been fine.
I also like the fact that its stockish appearing and has a built in rev limiter. Car makes good power with it too.
Also had  mates  install the kits in a 70 Charger and a 70 GTX, all good there as well

Did you disable the vacuum advance?

[familymopar]

yes !!! this is how it went ,
    the day I put the complete mopar electronic set up in ! dialed the vacuum & mechanical advance etc   , had it running & testing all day really !   went out for a  blast down the street ! etc     it ran awesome !!    parked it back in the garage , job done !
  next time I went to fire the motor , no start ?? traced it to the magnetic pick up in the distributor !!  , fitted a new pick up  , been no problems ever since ,  but I do have a couple spare orange boxes , magnetic pickups , & resistors just in case  , also have a points distributor all ready to go in a emergency side of the road thing  , should the electronic one fail    because have heard  loads of stories of guys having problems  , maybe I was lucky just having one problem early on , if you do go with set up make sure the orange box has a good ground , I even ran a dedicated ground wire to it & the electronic voltatage  regulator , direct from the battery ,  i'm nuts like that 
  I don't think Mopar performance are making the RB electronic distributors any more ,

lots of guys  like the fire core set up , & never have any problems with it , that ive read on here or moparts !

Tan top, I sat here for a second thinking, maybe my problem is in the distributor.  But in my case I do not think banging on the ecm box would fix it if it was the pick up...?

[tan top]

yes !!! this is how it went ,
   the day I put the complete mopar electronic set up in ! dialed the vacuum & mechanical advance etc   , had it running & testing all day really !   went out for a  blast down the street ! etc     it ran awesome !!    parked it back in the garage , job done !
 next time I went to fire the motor , no start ?? traced it to the magnetic pick up in the distributor !!  , fitted a new pick up  , been no problems ever since ,  but I do have a couple spare orange boxes , magnetic pickups , & resistors just in case  , also have a points distributor all ready to go in a emergency side of the road thing  , should the electronic one fail   because have heard  loads of stories of guys having problems  , maybe I was lucky just having one problem early on , if you do go with set up make sure the orange box has a good ground , I even ran a dedicated ground wire to it & the electronic voltatage  regulator , direct from the battery ,  i'm nuts like that  
 I don't think Mopar performance are making the RB electronic distributors any more ,

lots of guys  like the fire core set up , & never have any problems with it , that ive read on here or moparts !

Tan top, I sat here for a second thinking, maybe my problem is in the distributor.  But in my case I do not think banging on the ecm box would fix it if it was the pick up...?

  noo  , make sure its grounded well , clean off the orange paint  on the box where the attaching bolts go , to shiny metal both sides , then do the same to the cars body where its bolted to !  don't forget to put a dob of greese over the areas to stop rust .

well , I traced the dud magnetic pick up down  , through process of elimination !.
 as I  figured there is nothing in the  electronic distributor to go wrong its new   , so changed ballast risisters , even though I could of just jumped it   , swapped coils    orange ECUs  
 still no start , by past the ignition switch , still nothing  
 finally took the distributor cap off & pulled the rotor arm ( previously thought new ! electronic set up what could go wrong   )  the black & white plastic part of the pick up coil I think  , ( forgive me don't know the correct name )   was loose !  , actually  broken inside   ( see green arrow )
 15 minutes later  new pickup  in , motor  fired straight away    been no trouble ever since

[WHITE AND RED 69]

I had nothing but issues with the mopar orange boxes. Best thing I ever did was throw it in the trash and swap to an msd box.

Right now I am using the MSD 6AL box paired with the mopar distributor. Not a single issue in over 4 years (ignition related   ), starts better and runs smoother. But will be swapping out the mopar distributor soon with a Firecore unit I got from Ron a while back. I am already happy with the current setup so the MSD box with the Firecore unit will only make it better. 

[familymopar]

I am going to pull it back off and make sure I am getting a good metal to metal ground.  That actually makes sense as to why I may be vaing issues with both orange boxes and the rev n nator.

I would still like to hear from people who are using the rev n nator and if they disabled the vacuum advance.

Barring great improvement by ensuring a better ground, I think I will be tossing the orange boxes, and maybe boxes entirely, and looking into a firecore or msd distributor.

[Back N Black]

I installed the Firecore RTR dist. Long story short, second to none.

[Nacho-RT74]

Lot to talk about ECUs from me ( Have tried allmost everyone ) but I'm at job and will take time before be able to make a good reply...

My setup is RevNnator here, MP dist, vacuum engaged, MSD blaster coil chromed and firecore 250 wires.

Happy without issues. Lot of power... Pinging or knocking reaching 3500-3700 RPMs, dunno why yet.. Disengaged vacuum and didn't made diff about that.

[Bob T]

I have a Rev n Nator as well, I put it in last October along with a new dizzy and coil at the same time and its been fine.
I also like the fact that its stockish appearing and has a built in rev limiter. Car makes good power with it too.
Also had  mates  install the kits in a 70 Charger and a 70 GTX, all good there as well

Did you disable the vacuum advance?

Yes. 18' initial and 34' total to cope as our premium octane is less than your premium

[68charger440]

I use the MSD all in one and love it so far, but I have heard great things on the firecore also, and with Ron being here on the site you have better tech support than you will get anywhere else.  So if you are on the fence that seems like a pretty god reason to push you to the Firecore.

[familymopar]

I use the MSD all in one and love it so far, but I have heard great things on the firecore also, and with Ron being here on the site you have better tech support than you will get anywhere else.  So if you are on the fence that seems like a pretty god reason to push you to the Firecore.

I assume Ron has something to do with firecore?  Sorry, I am still relatively new here myself and do not know him yet.  You are right though, that would be reason enough for me to choose the firecore as all else seems to be equal with me.  I also like the idea of supporting a member, if that is what it would be doing.

I have a Rev n Nator as well, I put it in last October along with a new dizzy and coil at the same time and its been fine.
I also like the fact that its stockish appearing and has a built in rev limiter. Car makes good power with it too.
Also had  mates  install the kits in a 70 Charger and a 70 GTX, all good there as well

Did you disable the vacuum advance?

Yes. 18' initial and 34' total to cope as our premium octane is less than your premium

Thanks for the info!  I may have to try disabling the vacuum if nothing else.  I like having vacuum advance though...

Lot to talk about ECUs from me ( Have tried allmost everyone ) but I'm at job and will take time before be able to make a good reply...

My setup is RevNnator here, MP dist, vacuum engaged, MSD blaster coil chromed and firecore 250 wires.

Happy without issues. Lot of power... Pinging or knocking reaching 3500-3700 RPMs, dunno why yet.. Disengaged vacuum and didn't made diff about that.

You have my identical set up before I pulled the rev n nator and threw an orange box back on a while ago.  I would really like that rev n nator to work for me but if not I will go to the  all in ones.  I never did have knocking or pinging.  Once in a while it just "goes to sleep" and dies or won't start and I am clearly not getting spark.  Smack it a few times and good.  I will look forward to hearing what else you have to say on the subject.

I installed the Firecore RTR dist. Long story short, second to none.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[familymopar]

   noo  , make sure its grounded well , clean off the orange paint  on the box where the attaching bolts go , to shiny metal both sides , then do the same to the cars body where its bolted to !  don't forget to put a dob of greese over the areas to stop rust .

Ok, so here is my question of the moment.  When I am having these problems I can pull a wire and see that I am getting absolutely no spark.  If my ground is not sufficient, will that cause a zero spark situation?

[68charger440]

I use the MSD all in one and love it so far, but I have heard great things on the firecore also, and with Ron being here on the site you have better tech support than you will get anywhere else.  So if you are on the fence that seems like a pretty god reason to push you to the Firecore.

I assume Ron has something to do with firecore?  Sorry, I am still relatively new here myself and do not know him yet.  You are right though, that would be reason enough for me to choose the firecore as all else seems to be equal with me.  I also like the idea of supporting a member, if that is what it would be doing.

I have a Rev n Nator as well, I put it in last October along with a new dizzy and coil at the same time and its been fine.
I also like the fact that its stockish appearing and has a built in rev limiter. Car makes good power with it too.
Also had  mates  install the kits in a 70 Charger and a 70 GTX, all good there as well

Did you disable the vacuum advance?

Yes. 18' initial and 34' total to cope as our premium octane is less than your premium

Thanks for the info!  I may have to try disabling the vacuum if nothing else.  I like having vacuum advance though...

Lot to talk about ECUs from me ( Have tried allmost everyone ) but I'm at job and will take time before be able to make a good reply...

My setup is RevNnator here, MP dist, vacuum engaged, MSD blaster coil chromed and firecore 250 wires.

Happy without issues. Lot of power... Pinging or knocking reaching 3500-3700 RPMs, dunno why yet.. Disengaged vacuum and didn't made diff about that.

You have my identical set up before I pulled the rev n nator and threw an orange box back on a while ago.  I would really like that rev n nator to work for me but if not I will go to the  all in ones.  I never did have knocking or pinging.  Once in a while it just "goes to sleep" and dies or won't start and I am clearly not getting spark.  Smack it a few times and good.  I will look forward to hearing what else you have to say on the subject.

I installed the Firecore RTR dist. Long story short, second to none.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Ron is a Firecore dealer and resident guru here on the site.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him chime in on this thread sometime soon.  You can look him up by his "firefighter 3931" username here.

[firefighter3931]

The Firecore RTR is a nice piece and very easy to wire up and install. It eliminates the need for an external box, ballist resistor and the associated wiring. 

Based on the symptoms you've described I would suspect a poor ground issue....2 boxes with the same problem is telling. Try running a ground wire from the box to the engine and see if that clears up the intermittent no spark issues. 


Ron

[tan top]

  noo  , make sure its grounded well , clean off the orange paint  on the box where the attaching bolts go , to shiny metal both sides , then do the same to the cars body where its bolted to !  don't forget to put a dob of greese over the areas to stop rust .

Ok, so here is my question of the moment.  When I am having these problems I can pull a wire and see that I am getting absolutely no spark.  If my ground is not sufficient, will that cause a zero spark situation?

  never taken one of these boxes apart , but ! if guessing the guts inside need grounding to make it work ,
 ive read it time & time again over the years make sure the box is grounded

  think  Nacho RT-74  is the man  to ask  
for these boxes ,   has taken them apart & figurerd out how to fix them I believe , when they have  malfunctioned ,  he done a awesome thread about it a while ago , cant find it at the moment !

[Nacho-RT74]

MP ECUs malfunction is apparently due the low quality on Transistors coming out from the chinesse market at this moment:

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=92253.0;all

still have to talk a little bit on these but ocne again, I'm running out of time LOL

Note: I have a 10.2~4 CR running 95 octanes unleaded fuel on my 400 3.75" stroked engine, with a bad decking and angle valve seat jobs. So will have to correct that soon. Maybe thats the reason for the pinging or knocking

[Ghoste]

Do you have a good idea of when the Chinese crap started showing up in them?

[Challenger340]

I suppose when the "time" comes, I will switch over to an electronic unit ? Firecore's reputation being about one of the best, IMO.
but for now...
as long as it runs as well as it does, and it runs very well with absolutely no problems whatsoever, I will leave it alone.

Just yearly Points, Plugs, and Condenser.
It doesn't even crank half a turn..... Hot or Cold, wing..boom and running, idles well, decent mileage, works like it should.

[70-500-SE-EXPORT]

Firecore ready to run with their wires. Best money I ever spent on my car yet. Had the proform kit with the orange box it was a POS made in china. So I bought the pertronix with the ignitor 3 billet distributor. It was a even bigger POS and the motor misfired horribly. It was made in china to my surprise. The cap was such a poor fit It was hitting the brass terminals and chipped them. I returned it and bought the Firecore It was the best decision I ever made!

[Nacho-RT74]

Do you have a good idea of when the Chinese crap started showing up in them?

negative. Anyway is just a guess

[familymopar]

I think it is likely I had a grounding issue.  My plan is probably to do the firecore all in one but I would lik eto finish up this season with the rev n nator, as opposed to my newest orange box.  So with that in mind, here are some questions.

I unwrapped the wiring going to the ecm to take a look at it.  The only thing of note was that one of the wires is cut.  it is a brown and green wire and matches up with the only spot on the connector that does not have a prong.  I actually noticed this a couple years ago but did not worry too much about it as a) the car fired up and ran fine and b) it was connected to the prongless spot.  Now that I see it again, I would like to know if any of you are familiar with this?

I am limited in photos so this will be a few posts....

[familymopar]

I also took a look at my mounting holes.  they were gummed up really bad so I cleaned them up pretty good and noted that body paint goes right up to the holes.  I intend to scuff this off good before re-installing the box tonight.  But one of the screws goes in nice and tight, the other barely catches and spins again, I do not think it is providing a good ground.

Under the box there was a small 1" by 1" piece of old duct tape.  I had seen this many times but had never worried too much about it.  I took it off and there is a small hole, also very gummed up.  I cleaned this area also but it was a little tougher.  I assume that maybe this was a mistake hole in originally putting the box there, but I really don't know.

So with the orange box, my concern is that it may not be grounding due to either or both 1) the paint is not allowing sufficient contact (although I think the ground is through the screw not the box lip, or 2) that screw not catching.

With the rev n nator, there is a ground wire with loop.  Rev n nator makes clear to put this wire atop the box between the box and screw, not between the box and firewall.  So, if I use the rev n nator, need I scuff the firewall?  There would be no contact there it would just be down the screw.  Should I scuff the lip of the box itself where the ground loop sits?  Am I maybe not getting ground this way because it is on the side with the "loose screw"?

[familymopar]

Next, and hopefully lastly, does the center screw of the wiring connector serve a purpose besides holding he connector on?  My connector is tight and isn't going anywhere.  The center screw, though, is like the one mounting screw, turn it and it starts to feel a little snug then it skips and is loose again.

[Bob T]

Yep, mines the same, just went out to the garage and checked it.
The unused core on mine is terminated in the plug housing but there is no corresponding pin on the Rev n Nator, so don't worry about it, maybe put some heat shrink on that spare wire so it doesn't contact with anything it shouldn't.

I cleaned off the paint around the ring terminal so it would ground properly, works fine.
Also, it helps to scrape a little paint off the r.v.n. around the mount holes too. I'd use a multimeter to check the frame off the r.v.n. against the chassis to prove it actually is grounded, I'm a Sparky so I like to test my results to prove the work/theory.

  But did you also change your coil out at the same time? Troy recommended the Accel AC8140 coil and I have a 1ohm ballast resistor, dizzy is Accel 59300.
Hope that helps.
Just pulling it outside to wash & polish it now, might have a couple of beers too  

[familymopar]

Yep, mines the same, just went out to the garage and checked it.
The unused core on mine is terminated in the plug housing but there is no corresponding pin on the Rev n Nator, so don't worry about it, maybe put some heat shrink on that spare wire so it doesn't contact with anything it shouldn't.

I cleaned off the paint around the ring terminal so it would ground properly, works fine. But did you also change your coil out at the same time? Troy recommended the Accel AC8140 coil and I have a 1ohm ballast resistor, dizzy is Accel 59300.
Hope that helps.
Just pulling it outside to wash & polish it now, might have a couple of beers too 

Thanks Bob!  That is good to know.  I will wrap it back as it was.  I had wrapped the cut wire individually in electrical tape and then taped it all together.

I got the MSD Blaster 2 coil because that is what Troy recommended to me.  Since you have the rev n nator, did you disable the vacuum advance?  If so, how did you do it?  I recall Troy telling me that sometimes it wasn't necessary so I didn't.  But I recall him telling me something about pulling the vacuum hose and sticking a bb in it?

I will get the box back on in a bit.  Then I get her dirty tonight and bathe her tomorrow, that seems to be our method.  Beers, of course, will be involved (after driving is done!)

[familymopar]

Yep, mines the same, just went out to the garage and checked it.
The unused core on mine is terminated in the plug housing but there is no corresponding pin on the Rev n Nator, so don't worry about it, maybe put some heat shrink on that spare wire so it doesn't contact with anything it shouldn't.

I cleaned off the paint around the ring terminal so it would ground properly, works fine.
Also, it helps to scrape a little paint off the r.v.n. around the mount holes too. I'd use a multimeter to check the frame off the r.v.n. against the chassis to prove it actually is grounded, I'm a Sparky so I like to test my results to prove the work/theory.

  But did you also change your coil out at the same time? Troy recommended the Accel AC8140 coil and I have a 1ohm ballast resistor, dizzy is Accel 59300.
Hope that helps.
Just pulling it outside to wash & polish it now, might have a couple of beers too 

Bob, one more thing, you cleaned off the paint off the top of the rev n nator so it is grounding to itself?  Did you also clean off the paint under it on the firewall?

[Bob T]

Yep, mines the same, just went out to the garage and checked it.
The unused core on mine is terminated in the plug housing but there is no corresponding pin on the Rev n Nator, so don't worry about it, maybe put some heat shrink on that spare wire so it doesn't contact with anything it shouldn't.

I cleaned off the paint around the ring terminal so it would ground properly, works fine.
Also, it helps to scrape a little paint off the r.v.n. around the mount holes too. I'd use a multimeter to check the frame off the r.v.n. against the chassis to prove it actually is grounded, I'm a Sparky so I like to test my results to prove the work/theory.

  But did you also change your coil out at the same time? Troy recommended the Accel AC8140 coil and I have a 1ohm ballast resistor, dizzy is Accel 59300.
Hope that helps.
Just pulling it outside to wash & polish it now, might have a couple of beers too 

Bob, one more thing, you cleaned off the paint off the top of the rev n nator so it is grounding to itself?  Did you also clean off the paint under it on the firewall?

Yes, the msd coil is also correct, I remember Troy recommended it in the install notes.
Yes, a small bb forced into the line will do it, then plug it back onto the stem and it'll still look stock.
Yes to scraping off the paint on the firewall, its all about getting the best earth connection.

Let us know how you get on.

I just finished the polish, so a quick trip down to the liquor store , put it away in the garage ready for tomorrows run and now have a few beers & guitar tunes, sweet!

[familymopar]

Yep, mines the same, just went out to the garage and checked it.
The unused core on mine is terminated in the plug housing but there is no corresponding pin on the Rev n Nator, so don't worry about it, maybe put some heat shrink on that spare wire so it doesn't contact with anything it shouldn't.

I cleaned off the paint around the ring terminal so it would ground properly, works fine.
Also, it helps to scrape a little paint off the r.v.n. around the mount holes too. I'd use a multimeter to check the frame off the r.v.n. against the chassis to prove it actually is grounded, I'm a Sparky so I like to test my results to prove the work/theory.

  But did you also change your coil out at the same time? Troy recommended the Accel AC8140 coil and I have a 1ohm ballast resistor, dizzy is Accel 59300.
Hope that helps.
Just pulling it outside to wash & polish it now, might have a couple of beers too 

Bob, one more thing, you cleaned off the paint off the top of the rev n nator so it is grounding to itself?  Did you also clean off the paint under it on the firewall?

Yes, the msd coil is also correct, I remember Troy recommended it in the install notes.
Yes, a small bb forced into the line will do it, then plug it back onto the stem and it'll still look stock.
Yes to scraping off the paint on the firewall, its all about getting the best earth connection.

Let us know how you get on.

I just finished the polish, so a quick trip down to the liquor store , put it away in the garage ready for tomorrows run and now have a few beers & guitar tunes, sweet!

Thanks for the info Bob.

So I went out tonight and mounted the rev n nator back on.  It seems that both my mounting screws are now a little stripped and loose.

I also stuck the bb in the vacuum advance line.

Went to fire up the car and had a flashback.  Last year when I quit using the rev n nator it was because it was dying on me.  And then the dying turned to not firing up.  When I would try to fire her the carb would smoke like nobody's business.  I mean a lot of smoke, not a little.  We could never figure it out.  Eventually though it wouldn't fire and I went back to the orange box.  Never had the smoking or popping again, but it would die once in a while, just like going to sleep, no sounds, and I think it was a lack of spark due to poor ground.

So anyway, tonight I put the rev n nator back on.  Would not fire at first.  After a minute I got her to fire and the car backfired ferociously.  I'm pretty sure both my kids and both my dogs all messed themselves.  For which apologies were given.

After the backfire she woke up just fine and I let her idle.  After about 5-10 minutes of idling, she went to sleep.  When I went to fire her again, smoke billowing out of the carb.  Not a little smoke, a lot of smoke. I immediately shut it down.

I removed the rev n nator, fished the bb out with a coat hanger, and out the orange box back on.  She fired up, but was hesitant, then went to sleep.  I suspected the ground again

I got under the hood and because the box is now a little loose on the firewall, due to the stripped holes, I just pushed the box up against the firesll to make sure there was good contact.  Fired right up.  Ran well (idling), no problems.  I shut her back down.

Now I figure tomorrow I will look for some screws that are a tad bit bigger.  Small enough to fit through the box's mounting holes, big enough to catch well on the firewall.  I suppose I may have to drill out the mounting holes a bit.

This is probably an elementary problem I am having.  But something about that rev n nator is causing backfires and carb fires, well lots of carb smoke.  Not happening with the orange box.  They both give me the occasional dying, but I assume that is grounding.

Any advice is welcome.

My carb has been gone through and is all good.  My timing is good.  But something is off.

[Dino]

Not applicable when you need a ground, but to make the box tighter against the firewall take a piece of paperclip and bend it.  Lay it in the hole and put the screw back in, it'll catch now.  I did this on two bolts that are not critical for ground and it worked great.

[Nacho-RT74]

I got striped "firewall" holes looong time ago... what I did is make couple of slots on area hidden back of ECU, and inserted U nuts. If these nuts gets stripped ( or bolts ) I can replace any of them easily, and bolts can be still the original look ones. Of course being a 3rd gen an original location could be easier than earliers, since I can reach the cowl area simply removing the cowl grilles and insert these from back of cowl panel... ECU is actually attached to the cowl panel, not really on firewall.

Note: You can see rear of RevNnator is totally painted... MP orange is not painted, so definitelly you are getting somehow better ground on it... need to be sure about a good ground.

The screw is just to keep secure the plug, that's all

The green traced red wire would go to the secondary resistance on dual ballast ( 5 ohms ) when using 5 pins ECUs

[familymopar]

Ok, I went to Lowes with my box and the screws.  I found a slightly larger hex head screw with nice course threads.  Got home, used the dremel to take the paint off around the mounting holes.  I wasn't sure how much to take off.  I ground around the mounting hole maybe a 1/4 inch at most.  Put the box back on with the new larger screws, washer on top the box, and a star washer between the box and the body.  Went on nice and snug.  Car fired right up, idled for a few minutes and I took it for a nice drive with the boy.  Car drove like a champ.  It might be my imagination, but I felt like it ran a lot better.  It always drove well, but this might be one of those situations of not knowing it could be much better.  It was a great strong drive.  I think the intermittent grounding problem has been unknowingly affecting more than just the occasional dying.

[Nacho-RT74]

Which ECU did you use?

[familymopar]

I used the mp orange box.  Been out cruising all evening with no problems.

The only time my car has ever smoked out the carb is with the rev n nator.  It worries me now.

[Bob T]

Hmm, strange occurrence indeed.
I'd suggest heading out on a cruise with both ecu's and changing one out to see if the fault happens again.
Or, contact Troy at Rev n Nator for his opinion too, he might request you send it to him for testing it out, how old is it, could still be under warranty perhaps. 

[familymopar]

Yes I probably will contact Troy, when I first got the box I found their customer service to be fantastic.  I doubt it is under warranty, I seem to recall it being a one year warranty and I am definitely past that if so.  Nonetheless, I can't find anyone to ever have a bad issue with the rev box, so I assume at this point it is something I am doing or with my set up.  I also haven't tried the rev box again since I have insured a better ground, although I do not see how a poor ground would make my carb smoke like a chimney.

[68charger440]

Your smoke back through the carb may have been fuel that loaded up in the intake and/or exhaust pipes when it was started and not running right.  That can burn off with a pretty dark cloud of smoke.

[HeavyFuel]

Ignition module made in the USA: 

STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS LX101


http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=49654&cc=1079423

[familymopar]

Ignition module made in the USA: 

STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS LX101


http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=49654&cc=1079423

Are you using this box?

[HeavyFuel]

Yep.  Replaced the orange box that I was using, since everyone was bashing them so much, didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded.  Still might happen with this box, but at least its made in the USA, has a 3 year warranty. 

I don't notice any 'performance' degredation from the orange box.  I think it lacks the built in rev-limiting the orange box has.  I was looking to get away from that.   

[familymopar]

Yep.  Replaced the orange box that I was using, since everyone was bashing them so much, didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded.  Still might happen with this box, but at least its made in the USA, has a 3 year warranty. 

I don't notice any 'performance' degredation from the orange box.  I think it lacks the built in rev-limiting the orange box has.  I was looking to get away from that.   

I don't think the MP orange box has rev limiting, that is one of the reasons many people are so keen on the rev n nator.  How long have you been running the SMP box?

[Nacho-RT74]

suposselly orange box are designed to work nice up to 6500 RPMs, chromed up to 8K and Gold up to 12K

[familymopar]

suposselly orange box are designed to work nice up to 6500 RPMs, chromed up to 8K and Gold up to 12K

I agree, but I did not think they had any "rev limiting" function, they just start to malfunction or not function optimally after those designated limits.

[Troy]

The Mopar orange box doesn't have any rev limiting features - unless you consider "becoming unusable at higher RPM" to be a feature. The Rev-n-ator does have a limiter and looks a lot like the orange box (unless you buy a black one).

Troy

[HeavyFuel]

Yep.  Replaced the orange box that I was using, since everyone was bashing them so much, didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded.  Still might happen with this box, but at least its made in the USA, has a 3 year warranty. 

I don't notice any 'performance' degredation from the orange box.  I think it lacks the built in rev-limiting the orange box has.  I was looking to get away from that.   

I don't think the MP orange box has rev limiting, that is one of the reasons many people are so keen on the rev n nator.  How long have you been running the SMP box?

Hmm.  Good to know, everyone.   

Thought somewhere I read that it did, and that it kinda messed up the total timing calculations at high rev.  Must be thinking of a different box.

I've had the standard box in now for about a month is all.  I mounted it inside the cabin under the steering column.

[HeavyFuel]

Yep.  Replaced the orange box that I was using, since everyone was bashing them so much, didn't want to take the chance of getting stranded.  Still might happen with this box, but at least its made in the USA, has a 3 year warranty. 

I don't notice any 'performance' degredation from the orange box.  I think it lacks the built in rev-limiting the orange box has.  I was looking to get away from that.   

I don't think the MP orange box has rev limiting, that is one of the reasons many people are so keen on the rev n nator.  How long have you been running the SMP box?

Hmm.  Good to know, everyone.   

Thought somewhere I read that it did, and that it kinda messed up the total timing calculations at high rev.  Must be thinking of a different box.

I've had the standard box in now for about a month is all.  I mounted it inside the cabin under the steering column.

I remember now...the orange box pulls out timing at higher revs...THAT'S what it was. 

[GPULLER]

I had the same problems with striped out holes in the firewall so I put nutserts in and problems are gone.

Nutsert...

[familymopar]

I had the same problems with striped out holes in the firewall so I put nutserts in and problems are gone.

Nutsert...

Great idea!  I was looking for something like this but didn't find anything and had never heard of these.  Likely will be done this weekend.  Thanks for the advice!

[Nacho-RT74]

those are the same kind of nuts used on 70 E bodies, and I think 71/72 E and B bodies too, to the door side mirrors. Diff size of course

[hemi68charger]

I used the MSD-6A ignition with a Chrysler Electronic distrubutor as the trigger. I may change out and use an original Prestolite dual=point with an Pertronix Ignitor I or II as the trigger.