So I just picked up a 1985 GS, and it has 2 MSD ignitions, 1 for leading, 1 for trailing. No when I bought the car it had pretty much no muffler, so as you can imagine, all you could hear was the block. Now when the water pump started to go, I ordered another which arived the same day as my racing beat cat back. After installing the 2 new parts I decided to go for a drive.

While driving I started to reach high rpms in 2nd when all of a sudden, it sounded like lightning under my hood. I throttled down and it when away. So I tested it in a couple of higher gears... same problem, always when I was really getting on the gas, though I never could really hear it in 1st.

The car is fairly modified, w/ a holley 4 barrel, racing beat intake, headers, presilencer, and cat back in addition to the 2 ignitions. Now to the best of my knowledge this was not happening when I bought the car, because though I couldn't hear it, I would have smelled it. Since it ended up burning a hole in the boot of spark plug cable.

I started playing with the throttle in the driveway at a very high RPM I started to notice sparks coming from near the 2 coils, specifically the 1 close to the front end of the car. I've replaced the wire as well as the coil and still theres sparking going on. Does anyone have any ideas? Help me please.

Though it's just a small spark in the driveway in a rev, it sounds like the emperor in Star Wars shooting lightning out of his hands when your actually on the throttle.

Thanks as always guys!
~Travis

 

check the neck and the 2 little bolts the hold the wire of the coil for cracks, also if your cable is to big would do that too.

 

Check your cap and rotor.

Check for cracks on the coils.

If that's all good, you may have a grounding issue. If the motor isn't properly grounded, then the spark has an easier time jumping ship at the coil than at the plug. The stock battery cables were aluminum, and tend to corrode internally.

 

Would having a bad rotor cause arcing away from the block? hmmm
I hate dealing with ground :X Sounds like a job for saturday morning.

There seems to be no cracks on the coils themselves, and I just got new wires. Do you think I need a racing type wire? Would having a 50% horsepower gain cause this with regular factory wires?

Thanks for the help guys... Sad thing is, it was working great, then I fixed the water pump and put on the cat back to quiet it down, and now it hates life at the top end.... ::

 

I think you may have misunderstood. By rotor, I meant the rotor under the distributor cap. Sometimes when working in that general area, like say when changing a water pump, people will bump the distributor cap and it ends up being crooked. This results in the rotor hitting the inside of the cap, which will quickly destroy both pieces and cause all kinds of issues.

Just pull the cap off and look for any strange wear, and make sure you get it back on straight. They are extremely easy to install crooked...

 

Nope, wasnt the rotor... Even checked the timing and that's all set. Do you think I need upgraded coils?

 

Just as a test, run a large gauge wire from the alternator mount to the negative post on the battery. If that helps, then you need to replace your battery cables because the engine isn't getting a good ground.

Fouled spark plugs could probably cause this too, if they were bad enough.

 

Nope, nope, and more nope.
It's really only when the trailing starts kicking in I do believe. Or when the holley starts it's 2 other barells. ahhhz
This has been a fun weekend... not really but it happens.

 

Ordered a couple of Blaster Coils, hopefully these will stop the death of my power. It sucks, cause right when the power is about to go Emperor Palpatine goes crazy on my engine pay :-P Least that's what it sounds like.

 

taylor wires are bad for arching... hope the new coils solve this.,.. keep us posted

 

RIP 1st 12a block...
Time for a streetport? I need to start saving...
Think the engine starting to go could have been the reason why this crazyness was happening?
::sigh::

 

No, I've never heard of a dying motor causing sparks in the ignition system. Now, a bad ignition system can cause a motor to die though...

 

Can you hear the apex seal starting to go?

 

Yeah, when you get on it it will sound like a rod knock or something similar. I'm battling with a sticking apex seal right now, and when its acting up it sounds just like an old V8 with a rod knock whenever the secondaries open up...