Author Topic: Mag or electronic ignition.  (Read 29438 times)

Offline slingshot383

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 143
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 1/4 mi. 7.95 @ 168
  • Your Engine: Chrysler, alcohol, 528 cu.in.
  • Your Track: Gateway Motorsports Park (the Swamp)
  • Your Vehicle: Undercover Chassis 23T altered
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2013, 05:09:00 AM »
The best way to test, would be with a pressure box like the one Austin Coil made decades ago.  It's designed to test ignition system performance under possible cylinder pressures till it blows out the spark.
Undercover 23T Altered, big block Mopar
Member of the Torque and Recoil Club

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #16 on: July 07, 2013, 08:54:33 PM »
The best way to test, would be with a pressure box like the one Austin Coil made decades ago.  It's designed to test ignition system performance under possible cylinder pressures till it blows out the spark.

That would be the proof.

I think some folks know but maybe they are not on this forum? ;)

Offline masracingtd1167

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1110
  • bill masiello Shelton Ct.
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 7.40's at 181 on motor 6.94 at 192 nitrous
  • Your Engine: 394 chevy
  • Your Track: Lebanon Valley Dragway
  • Your Vehicle: 2003 Neil and Parks
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #17 on: July 08, 2013, 02:04:35 PM »
George I don't know if this will help you but I run a 7al3 box in my car and have had no issues at all with it . My motor has 14.8 compression on alcohol and we have sprayed it with a 250 shot of nitrous . I really have nothing to compare it to as I have never tried a mag in mine 

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #18 on: July 08, 2013, 05:13:49 PM »
George I don't know if this will help you but I run a 7al3 box in my car and have had no issues at all with it . My motor has 14.8 compression on alcohol and we have sprayed it with a 250 shot of nitrous . I really have nothing to compare it to as I have never tried a mag in mine

Thanks for the input. What battery do you run? Do you use it to start the car? Spark plug and gap?
« Last Edit: July 08, 2013, 05:16:05 PM by George »

Offline masracingtd1167

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1110
  • bill masiello Shelton Ct.
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 7.40's at 181 on motor 6.94 at 192 nitrous
  • Your Engine: 394 chevy
  • Your Track: Lebanon Valley Dragway
  • Your Vehicle: 2003 Neil and Parks
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2013, 02:17:18 PM »
George I use an Oddesy battery in my car Yes I do use it to start the car . So far no issues . Spark plug gap .025

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #20 on: July 09, 2013, 03:43:17 PM »
Thank you again for sharing. Not many have shared information in this thread. My car is for sale and in my next project I will be using a 16 volt battery. As for the mag or no mag question , I'll start with the MSD digital 6+ I already have. If it's a problem the plug gap will get  smaller until that's a problem.

George

Offline Supercat

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 252
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 6.16 @ 218 1/4
  • Your Track: Bakersfield to Bowling Green to New England dragway
  • Your Vehicle: Buick powered/ 200" Fastech FED
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #21 on: July 09, 2013, 09:44:07 PM »
George we use a second battery to start our car. We use a small battery on board for the transbake and recorder. It is enough of a battery to start the dragster if I stall it after the burnout, but it struggles to do it.
We use a heavy duty cable connector like you would have for a blower starter or winch. It is mounted at the rear of the car just under the seat near the lower wheelie bar mount. We use a battery cart with either 1 or 2 batteries to start the car and then just disconnect and pull forward. The small battery stays on the charger while in the pits. We run a mag usually but will be using our MSD ignition on the engine in the car now.
We do have a new 16V battery that was given to us by one of our sponsors, BUT WOW are the chargers expensive.
I need to stop being cheap and just get one.

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #22 on: July 10, 2013, 12:25:19 AM »
Supercat. Thanks for sharing. George

What are you using for ignition and what is the plug gap?

I found some helpful information on 16 volt systems: http://www.dragracingonline.com/technical/v9-battery-1.html
« Last Edit: July 10, 2013, 12:40:24 AM by George »

Offline Supercat

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 252
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 6.16 @ 218 1/4
  • Your Track: Bakersfield to Bowling Green to New England dragway
  • Your Vehicle: Buick powered/ 200" Fastech FED
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #23 on: July 10, 2013, 07:59:11 AM »
George we run a spark gap of .018 for the mag and a gap of .050 on the MSD we use the NGK race plugs. We will most likely go up on the gap with the 16V battery installed. I do have a resistor for my gauges and trans brake. I am going to check with Race-Pak to see if I need to use a resistor for their products.

That was a good link on the 16 Volt battery.    We  are using the XS Power D-1600 deep cycle for our car. We are also using the Tilton high torque starter.

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #24 on: July 10, 2013, 09:25:14 AM »
George we run a spark gap of .018 for the mag and a gap of .050 on the MSD we use the NGK race plugs. We will most likely go up on the gap with the 16V battery installed. I do have a resistor for my gauges and trans brake. I am going to check with Race-Pak to see if I need to use a resistor for their products.

That was a good link on the 16 Volt battery.    We  are using the XS Power D-1600 deep cycle for our car. We are also using the Tilton high torque starter.

What MSD box are you using ? Coil?

Offline Supercat

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 252
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 6.16 @ 218 1/4
  • Your Track: Bakersfield to Bowling Green to New England dragway
  • Your Vehicle: Buick powered/ 200" Fastech FED
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #25 on: July 10, 2013, 09:43:31 AM »
George the MSD parts are

Box  6AL      pn 6420
Coil  HVC II  pn 8261
Distributor   pn 8517
Crank trigger
2 Step        pn 8739

Our engine is a 12.5 to 1 462 Buick that is about 850 HP and 673 ft/lb on a decent tune with carb and race gas. We now have the 4port Hilborn as a throttle body with 8 Enderle nozzles at the valves on methanol so it should run pretty good in a 1200lb car.
What is your build?
John

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #26 on: July 10, 2013, 10:43:12 AM »
George the MSD parts are

Box  6AL      pn 6420
Coil  HVC II  pn 8261
Distributor   pn 8517
Crank trigger
2 Step        pn 8739

Our engine is a 12.5 to 1 462 Buick that is about 850 HP and 673 ft/lb on a decent tune with carb and race gas. We now have the 4port Hilborn as a throttle body with 8 Enderle nozzles at the valves on methanol so it should run pretty good in a 1200lb car.
What is your build?
John

John. Our engine is a SBC 4.030 X 3.48 . Dart 230 iron heads.Shaft rockers.  Ross pistons 13.4:1, Scat 4340 crank, Callies steel rods.Custom roller cam, Hilborn 2 7/16 on alky, Waterman 400 pump. Dynoed 641 hp with MSD 6. Now using MSD 12LT mag. Last time we scaled it we were 1480 wet with driver. I have added a few things since that weight -in. Probably closer to 1500 now. We ran a 5.10 in testing Memorial Day weekend but have been rained out in every other outing this year. July 20th is our next attempt.

Offline wideopen231

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1911
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: 1/8 3.70@ 198 1/4 5.78@245
  • Your Engine: Hemi 526 ci alcohol
  • Your Track: Piedmont
  • Your Vehicle: 225 CMC FED
  • General Location: NORTH CAROLINA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #27 on: July 10, 2013, 11:24:37 AM »
George,

  First I'm not trying to be smart butt.It looks like you have both msd6 and mag.Why not just do some back to back test runs. Heck if you did 330' shots you would probably see if there was differance or not.If it was me thats what I would do. Im running mag 12's or will be for 2 reason two sitting on shelf and I like mag better.
Relecting obama is like shooting right foot because it did not hurt enough when you shot left foot

Offline George

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 515
    • View Profile
  • Your Vehicle: 1964 Mercury Comet Super Stock/ M automatic
  • General Location: Midwest USA
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #28 on: July 10, 2013, 12:54:13 PM »
Wide open, I have run both and have seen no difference. Lots of variables. I was looking for others to share their information. Like plug gap.  ;)

Offline ricardo1967

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 570
    • View Profile
  • Your Best Time: No full pass yet.
  • Your Engine: Alky SBC 400
  • Your Track: Brown County Dragway (Bean Blossom, IN)
  • Your Vehicle: 173" FED
Re: Mag or electronic ignition.
« Reply #29 on: July 10, 2013, 04:27:55 PM »
Test cell (dyno) probably more appropriate than track for such comparison.