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?