BEWARE msd ignition

[Egoracing]

Lets not forget the rear engine plate is a multi point source of ground for the engine also.
I personally have never ran any extra grounds,nor had a ground problem..... ever!
One to each head, and the block may be a bit over redundant in my opinion.
YMMV

Cast Iron blocks are painted, the chassis are painted, then you are putting an aluminum plate to steel which will cause corrosion which will cause loss of connection, then we add soaps and water to that while washing the car. NONE of these are conducive to a good connection.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I have gotten away with it plenty of times Jed. I have also seen a LM with a ground strap on the engine block that wouldn't run right unless a ground strap was attached to the HEI distributor.

[dualdj1]

Lets not forget the rear engine plate is a multi point source of ground for the engine also.
I personally have never ran any extra grounds,nor had a ground problem..... ever!
One to each head, and the block may be a bit over redundant in my opinion.
YMMV

Yep it likely is overkill. However, in this case, overkill causes no harm, and ensures that you always have a solid ground, which means good conductivity for the whole system.

[Egoracing]

Yep it likely is overkill. However, in this case, overkill causes no harm, and ensures that you always have a solid ground, which means good conductivity for the whole system.

Exactly, the ONE time it pops up is when you are leading a big race with a few laps left then no fire. I have seen one engine that was an aluminum block and head car that ran hot and after is was pulled into the pits would not start to be able to add water to the cooling system to cool it off. We had to load it up on in the trailer and go home and let it cool down. The next day it would spin over all day but would not fire at all to get it into the shop so we had to push it. Popped the cap on the radiator and filled it up and it fired right up. My buddy that owned the car (It was a drag car) shut it down and said to drain the water. Drained it all out and it would not fire at all. This was a solid front plate and mid plate chassis that was powder coated. Filled the radiator back up and it fired up. We checked and without water in the cooling system the heads were not grounded at all. The only thing that was creating the ground to the plugs was the water. We grounded the engine to the battery and the block, heads and intake and for the next week we broke out on every practice run. With the engine completely grounded the car picked up about .08 every pass. This was on a full chassis 9.0 index car that could run high 8.8-8.9 without the throttle stop before the grounds were added and were low 8.80's with them and nothing else. we even adjusted the jetting and timing for the temperature and humidity every round.

[hot rock]

You stated that you had a ground problem and had a bad coil, bad grounds kill more ignitions and cost more power than most people ever realize. An engine not grounded too the chassis correctly can cause the coil to overheat, not to mention running a parts store coil in a racing application. Ego has nothing to do with knowledge, If you are relying on the motor mount bolts to ground an engine you are loosing power and can be cooking the coil. The steel chassis is NOT a good ground and and engine can easily pick up 15-20 HP just by running a ground wire from the battery to the engine block and both heads.

it was a msd blaster 2 coil,same as we have running for probably 10 years.the new ones are probaly made in china.not worth a ------

[perfconn]

Alwas blame the parts or the engine builder,never take blame when you can blame someone else.

[Egoracing]

it was a msd blaster 2 coil,same as we have running for probably 10 years.the new ones are probaly made in china.not worth a ------

Did you have it mounted straight up and down or sideways?

Any Electronic part can go bad at any time, and there are some bad out of the box of everything also without a doubt. I can count on one hand the times I have had a coil go bad and have a few fingers left. Coils mounted incorrectly, wired wrong and bad grounds will kill them quickly. Blaster 2 coils are oil filled, oil filled coils require mounting so the terminals and spark plug wire terminal are up. Many people mount them horizontally and that allows the oil to move away from some of the windings causing them to run hot and fail. You will also need to keep the coil wire as short as you can. I have seen a bunch of cars that would mount them in the drivers box and have a 3ft coil wire, this will kill them also.

MSD will even tell you to mount it vertically if you are going to mount it horizontally you need an epoxy filled unit.

[Egoracing]

Page 7 of the MSD wiring diagrams and tech notes;

• The MSD Blaster Coils and any other oil-filled, canister style coils should be mounted so that the high voltage coil tower is pointed upward. Also, mount the coil so the coil wire is as short as possible to keep resistance low.

[hot rock]

yes it was mounted streight up,

[Egoracing]

yes it was mounted streight up,

I searched around but found nothing about it but I know that on drag cars they used to recommend them to be mounted at about a 45 degree angle front to rear so the forces generated during acceleration did not uncover the windings when the oil reacted. I used to mount our asphalt coils that was to the outside of the track so cornering forces did not cause the oil to uncover them.
Like I said before, there is always a chance of a bad electronic part, we had a $18,000 cable certifier at work for cat 5E, cat6 and fiber certification. We bought it and tested about 20 runs when the thing started giving off results and failing cable runs. We got our older unit and they all passed. The new tester had to be sent back and they replaced it as several attempts at repairing it did not work.

[abe_05]

In 1988 I started using Mallory because they started using digital and I never switched back to MSD because they continue to use the analog that is a little out date ( kinda like using a 20 year old cell phone). I run Mallory distributor and Crane box now in my late model. One the biggest things I liked about Mallory and Crane box is the rev-limiter, it is a lot smoother once it hits the rpm. Battery draw was one the biggest reason I switched then. Seems MSD's name got so big years ago, they could just step back and stop trying to make new and better products!! They still trying to make millions off a product developed 25 years ago, I now the 6AL has been out that long.

[Egoracing]

In 1988 I started using Mallory because they started using digital and I never switched back to MSD because they continue to use the analog that is a little out date ( kinda like using a 20 year old cell phone). I run Mallory distributor and Crane box now in my late model. One the biggest things I liked about Mallory and Crane box is the rev-limiter, it is a lot smoother once it hits the rpm. Battery draw was one the biggest reason I switched then. Seems MSD's name got so big years ago, they could just step back and stop trying to make new and better products!! They still trying to make millions off a product developed 25 years ago, I now the 6AL has been out that long.

That is great if the sanction body or track allows the Crane boxes but traction control is easier to put into one so some areas do not allow them. MSD also had digital available but again, many tracks/series will not allow them.

[jedclampit]

[QUOTE=Egoracing;1560887]Exactly, the ONE time it pops up is when you are leading a big race with a few laps left then no fire. I have seen one engine that was an aluminum block and head car that ran hot and after is was pulled into the pits would not start to be able to add water to the cooling system to cool it off. We had to load it up on in the trailer and go home and let it cool down. The next day it would spin over all day but would not fire at all to get it into the shop so we had to push it. Popped the cap on the radiator and filled it up and it fired right up. My buddy that owned the car (It was a drag car) shut it down and said to drain the water. Drained it all out and it would not fire at all. This was a solid front plate and mid plate chassis that was powder coated. Filled the radiator back up and it fired up. We checked and without water in the cooling system the heads were not grounded at all. The only thing that was creating the ground to the plugs was the water. We grounded the engine to the battery and the block, heads and intake and for the next week we broke out on every practice run. With the engine completely grounded the car picked up about .08 every pass. This was on a full chassis 9.0 index car that could run high 8.8-8.9 without the throttle stop before the grounds were added and were low 8.80's with them and nothing else. we even adjusted the jetting and timing for the temperature and humidity every round.[/QUOTE?

I gotta ask..........how did the starter operate if the block had no ground ??

[Egoracing]

[QUOTE=jedclampit;1562448]

Exactly, the ONE time it pops up is when you are leading a big race with a few laps left then no fire. I have seen one engine that was an aluminum block and head car that ran hot and after is was pulled into the pits would not start to be able to add water to the cooling system to cool it off. We had to load it up on in the trailer and go home and let it cool down. The next day it would spin over all day but would not fire at all to get it into the shop so we had to push it. Popped the cap on the radiator and filled it up and it fired right up. My buddy that owned the car (It was a drag car) shut it down and said to drain the water. Drained it all out and it would not fire at all. This was a solid front plate and mid plate chassis that was powder coated. Filled the radiator back up and it fired up. We checked and without water in the cooling system the heads were not grounded at all. The only thing that was creating the ground to the plugs was the water. We grounded the engine to the battery and the block, heads and intake and for the next week we broke out on every practice run. With the engine completely grounded the car picked up about .08 every pass. This was on a full chassis 9.0 index car that could run high 8.8-8.9 without the throttle stop before the grounds were added and were low 8.80's with them and nothing else. we even adjusted the jetting and timing for the temperature and humidity every round.[/QUOTE?

I gotta ask..........how did the starter operate if the block had no ground ??

Block was getting ground, the heads were not, well, not unless the cooling system was full. Heads not grounded equaled no spark. We were using a stacked head gasket and silicone for the intake, It only took a little corrosion on the wahser/head surfce and the heads and intake were isolated.

[jedclampit]

34 head studs, 16 pushrods,4 head alignment dowels pins, one dizzy.... and no ground path.
Your name Murphy?