Problem with Don at FBO Systems ??

[Charger_Dart]

Musicman, Thank's a lot for researching this in much greater detail.

That article was full of good information, but Don & his tech had me test a couple of things that I have not mentioned earlier. I have a modern mini Mopar starter on the car which draws a lot less when starting. I also tested the voltage at the 12v pin on the module during cranking and was getting between 10 & 10.5 volts which Don said should be enough for it to fire. I took it further and hooked up a battery charger and set it to 50 amps jump start and tried to see if it would fire - no go. The last test I did was run a jumper wire directly from the battery to the 12v pin on the module during cranking. All of this and never any spark at the plugs.

On a good note, I took the Charger out yesterday for a great drive in the country to see the fall colors starting around here. It was really nice and the engine fired right up every time as soon at I hit the key, ran flawlessly and never missed a beat. It was a good day.     

[ODZKing]

My Mopar Peformance Electronic Ignition system is flawless..Forget that other crap.

If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. 

How fast do you need to get it on and off the trailer anyway?   

[Musicman]

On a good note, I took the Charger out yesterday for a great drive in the country to see the fall colors starting around here. It was really nice and the engine fired right up every time as soon at I hit the key, ran flawlessly and never missed a beat. It was a good day.    

Heading to the White Mountains of NH myself on Oct.2nd... Going to be there for a few days enjoying the foliage. I'll probably swing over to ME for the  Fryeburg Fair while I'm there.

[Musicman]

The last test I did was run a jumper wire directly from the battery to the 12v pin on the module during cranking. All of this and never any spark at the plugs.

Unfortunately, jumping direct from the battery won't do much for you either when the entire system is under voltage at 10 volts or less, but that's neither here nor there at the moment, your running, your happy and that's what counts!



P.S.: I sent an email to Don as well concerning the possibility of under voltage issues and other concerns with the new HEI style systems. From what I've read in numerous articles 10.5 is below the minimum... not to mention the fact that you can have 10.5 volts but still have inadequate amperage to dive the circuit. Anyone who has had any real experience troubleshooting power transformers etc will be familiar with that issue. It's like when you go out to start your car in the dead of winter and the starter doesn't want to turn using that 5 year old battery. You had 12 volts, but you don't have the cranking amps. You turn the key, the voltage drops and now you got nothing.

[Musicman]

How fast do you need to get it on and off the trailer anyway?   

Come on Bob... Your just like the rest of us... You know you carry (2) spare Ballast Resistors with you at all times

[ODZKing]

How fast do you need to get it on and off the trailer anyway?   

Come on Bob... Your just like the rest of us... You know you carry (2) spare Ballast Resistors with you at all times

Yep, sure do.      Better that than having GM parts that don't work at all!!!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Ruh roh....more trouble....

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=QuestionAnswer&Number=6809297&page=0&fpart=1

[Musicman]

Yeah, that's what happens when folks go running off at the mouth without the facts... the sky is falling , the sky is falling 

[Nacho-RT74]

LOL... I'm just giving the warning just in case somebody else gets the same deception surprise...

I was thinking to get it... If I do after pay all what I would have to pay and discover that, TRUST ME, my angryness wasn't to be normal!

[Musicman]

I agree with you Nacho... unless you really need a 9000 RPM output, you can probably make something adequately similar for less money using one of the better HEI units. Of course if you want something ready made, purchase one of the other HEI driven "Ready to Run" units from MSD, Pertronix, Mallory etc.
I have nothing against Don's HEI unit... after all, it's no different than any of the other HEI driven units that no one bitches about, in fact it's suppose to be better, but I can do without the added expense of a Billet Box to hide it in myself. Repackage it, drop the price accordingly and I'll buy one tomorrow.

[Nacho-RT74]

Well, the rest of Ready To Run stuff "HEI based" are not hidden stuff , you know what are you buying and you don't get just a box LOL you get a fully dist what it worths and works by itself

( BTW, Ready To run MSD dist is not a GM module, its a complete printed circuit board and includes an electronic vacuum advance system, adjustable RPM limiter etc... )

I know we are talking once again about the same and we are mostly agreed with everything, but just wanted to post about, again

[Musicman]

Roger that Nacho... I was just talking about HEI systems in general, not the shape of the chip that's used to drive them 

Now if Don was to repackage them and drop the price accordingly, then he would really have something since many of us already have the other components like the dizzy, vacuum advance, coil etc... Then it would be a real cost saver, or at least a cost effective alternative anyway.

He was suppose to produce one with a REV limiting feature too, but we'll have to wait and see on that. I have a feeling he's going to be busy answering phone calls for a while yet.
He could have saved himself a lot of grief by describing the system better in his advertising. Folks are not too surprised if they see an HEI system chip hiding in their dizzy, but they don't really expect to find one in a Mopar ECU box... after all, that's for printed circuits and components, not prepackaged circuits. Granted packaging is just packaging and that's all their is to it, but still... a couple of descriptive words could have alleviated a lot of issues.