This sucks! I hooked up an MSD 6a to my 2nd gen leading directfire set up and burnt out my coil. The coil was hot and now it wont give out any spark. I followed the how to instructions and hooked the MSD orange wire to the FC coil + and MSD black to the - side. Did I hook it up wrong? I also tried running it through the cap as per instrucions after wards just to get the car running by just running two coils instead of the direct fire set up and its still not right? My tach is twitching up and down? Any thoughts?





Thanks, Ed

 

I have a feeling that you didnt cut off the wires coming from the FC's igniters to FC coil.

 

You didn't use the inline resistor, did you?

Check the sticky at the top of the 1st gen page and go to the 2nd gen ign setup I wrote.... Should help.

You actually have to un-screw the back of the coil and remove the ignitor and wire the resistor inline with the MSD - wire just like you would setting it up like a normal coil.

 

I yanked and tossed the fc ignitor when I first installedit. The resistor is inline on the - side of the fc coil just like in the pics that you posted(metallic rock). Its been driving fine like that ever since the install. Only now did I have any porblems with it. Should my resistor have been on the + side of the coil? I'm lost!



Thanks, Ed

 

well, it doesn't really matter, supposedly, but stock, it's on the - side.

If you had it all wired up properly, it could have just been an old coil that ended up failing.


You may want to go ahead and either get a NEW coil, or get another type of coil that fires on 2 outputs just like the 2nd gen coil does.

Jose Reyes uses a Harley Motorcycle coil with his Jacobs pack (same as MSD), and it works just fine.

I'm willing to bet the coil just wore out. Either that or the MSD was just too much for it. Personally, I'd see if MSD makes a two tower coil and use it. That way, you know it was designed for it.

 

MSD does make a two tower coil. Search for an MSD DIS coil on the Jeg's site.

Try this link for the MSD coil: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...34&prmenbr=361

Try this link for the Accel coil: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...89&prmenbr=361

Hmm, so you guys are saying I'm going to need to hook up the resistor in line with my MSD and FC leading coil install? I haven't tried it yet because I've been too busy working on the 20B. I guess I'm glad I held off on it.

So the resistor is required...

 

In my cousin’s car, I installed a MSD 6A with a direct fire using the FC coil. All I did was cut the coil-to-igniter wires and just ran the orange and black wires straight to the coil with NO OTHER MODIFICATION. It has been 3 years and there is no problem.

 

So no resistor then? I like the sound of that.

 

What would cause the coil to get really hot? Also weres the best place to hook up the 12v switch on the MSD? When I first installed it I used the + side of the trailing coil. Could this have caused my FC coil to fail or is this okay for the msd's 12v switch?


Thanks, Ed

 

Tried directfire with 3 coils and the MSD and still no luck. Both my leading coils started to get real very quickly. I disconected all the MSD wiring and I'm converting back to my old 3 coil directfire with 3 ignitors(as per jeff20b's) for now until I get the MSD sorted out.



Thanks, Ed

 

Concerning the resistor.. I've been running my fc coil for about 8 months, and so far so good without it.

as for the msd.. *shrugs* i haven't got the cash to get me one just yet... college life hurts the pockets..

 

Another reason why I am making a bolt in kit.

The msd box isnt all its hyped up to be.
and acording to msd you dont even get the full effect unless you use their wires because standard wires are sold core and theirs are heli core or something like that.
I havent heard of anyone using their wires on an rx7 yet anyway.

 

So no resistor with MSD for sure. Sweet!

As for the MSD and its hype, if I didn't already have an MSD and an FC leading coil, I'd definitely be using DLIDFIS on my next two rotor project. I just tested TLIDFIS yesterday on my 20B and it worked fine.

 

Finished converting back to a coil directfire. The car fired right up. The car feels so much stronger than when I had the 2nd gen coil. Now I just need to incorporate the msd. Maybe I'll try the white wire this time?


Thanks, Ed

 

My MSD 6AL was originally connected using the white wire AND it was connected directly to both leading and trailing igniters..Yes, you read it right..both igniters.

However, to satisfy my curiosity, I switched to YAW set- up (using purple & green) around 1998...I didnt noticed any difference in performance between the 2 set-ups.

PS: I havent tried connecting the white wires without the igniters.

 

Yes sir...just clip the wires and connect the MSD's orange and black wires.

 

Resistor in the FC coil:
On some FC ignition modules, the resistor is on the - side. On some it's on the + side. Doesn't matter.

With an MSD, you do not need the resistor. With it in place, you are losing major spark energy (about 100 v of the 470 the MSD puts out). What the ignition sees is not the DC resistance of the coil, but the inductance. The resistor is there more for the stock ignitor - it apparentlly likes coils >0.5 ohms or so - lead is only 0.25 ohms. I have been using a stock FC lead coil, no resistor, with various CDI's including a 7AL-2 for years without problems.

If your coils are getting hot, there's probably something wrong with your MSD (though I have a hard time imagining what would cause that).

As for ignition wires, there are no stock wires which have solid cores. Those went away a long time ago. Many stock wires are carbon string type though - those won't last real long with any CDI.

 

Wackyracer, since I'm using the 3 coil directfire set up where would I tap the white wire on the msd and does it matter which of the leading coils I hook the black and orange from the MSD?

Thanks, Ed

 

http://www.seriousre.com/msddfis

 

In other words, the green and purple should be used instead of the white wire. Hook them to the red and green wires of the leading pickup only. Purple MSD to green pickup and green MSD to red pickup.

 

Jeff20b, thats how I originally had it hooked up and my FC coil got so hot that I think it fried itself? I switched to a 3 coil set up and left the green and purple hooked up to the dizzy and wired the orange and black wire from the MSD to one of my leading coils and both leading coils started to get very hot aswell? As you know I have since converted back to your 3 coil directfire set up. Could there be something wrong with my MSD to cause my coils to burn up? The wiring is pretty straight forward even i cant screw it up. LOL!

Thanks, Ed

 

I just wanted to add acouple things that I forgot to mention. With the MSD hooked up I had a severe voltage drop. All my idiot lights stayed on until I blipped the throttle. Why is it draing my voltage? I dont think this is normal? Any thoughts?

Thanks, Ed

 

I just wanted to add acouple things that I forgot to mention. With the MSD hooked up I had a severe voltage drop. All my idiot lights stayed on until I blipped the throttle. Why is it draing my voltage? I dont think this is normal? Also I hooked my timing light to the leading wires and got no signal. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Ed

 

Where are your power wires hooked up from the unit?

The positive wire should go straight to the battery, make sure your neg also has a good ground, remote should go to a ignition 1 wire not 2.

 

Yep the power wires run straight to the battery + and -. The 12v switch I hooked up to the trailing coils + terminal. Should this be on the leading?


Thanks, Ed