Crank trigger

[gregaba]

What is everyone using for a crank trigger on the 428. I have Jays front part's and was thinking of adding a trigger for the ignition.
Greg

[JamesonRacing]

Innovator's West offers some very slick solutions for the balancer and crank trigger.

Something best to call and talk to them about as they are made to order.

[MeanGene]

I have one swap meet BBC setup that would take a little bracket work, and then lucked on to an MSD FE setup

[gregaba]

Thanks for the info. I will check out IW and reread Jays post on what he did.
Greg

[Falcon67]

I just buy the MSD units for SBF and make an adapter plate for my 351C.  You just need to mount the trigger wheel with whatever your pulley setup might be, then work out a plate and spacer arrangement as needed. 

[gregaba]

Thanks Chris
Have you had any trouble from the MSD unit.
We have had a lot of problem's with their products here in the last few year's.
Greg

[Falcon67]

None so far, been running their crank triggers for several years.  I run a 7AL-3 behind the trigger in the door car.

[gregaba]

Good to know.
I think I will run the Vertex control  in mine as I have never had any problem with them. I was out spinning my distributor's a while ago to find the one with the least amount of resistance.
Greg

[XR7]

I plan on using a miss-mash of products together on my next build. I have gathered some parts and will need a bit more to finish. I like the ATI dampers even though the zero is off, I just modify the pointer when I check for true zero. I have that and bought he (BBC) MSD crank trigger wheel and the step ring registers perfect to the ATI ring as that part is BBC on the FE ford damper hub. I don't believe that MSD makes the FE kit anymore. I bought the Innovators West FE sensor bracket with timing pointer, and the sensor from them as well. It is all adjustable and I have used them before and they are nice. I plan on buying a STAR Machine crank mandrel and pulleys, for the alternator and vacuum pump. I like the fact they bolt to the damper not the crank, and are splined so they won't loosen up if your turn the engine backwards, and the big nut on the end makes advancing your engine 60* when adjusting your clutch base springs through the bell much easier.

[gregaba]

That was one of my questions .
I have a TCI Rattler on the engine now and it uses the BBC bolt pattern.
One more question, when you mount the unit should you space out the pulleys for the alt and any other items you have hooked up to the engine?.
Greg

[Falcon67]

The mag ring on the MSG crank trigger wheel is .250 think, so it will move the crank pulley arrangement out that much.  You may well need to fab spacers and such for any belt driven accessories.  I only run an electric waterpump and alternator so depending on what engine is in the car it's either a custom fabbed alternator mount or modified stock mount.  The trigger was an easy mount on the 302 because it uses a stock balancer, so the spacers provided in the MSD kit put the trigger assembly right in line.  Everything else has been eyeball and fab LOL.  The main deal has been making a plate to use existing holes in the block that provides enough surface area to mount the trigger and adjustment brackets.  The bracket needs some spacers behind it to allow the bracket to adjust.  And I work around the stock timing pointer because I use that for the initial advance setting. 

That's really he beauty of the crank trigger - set the engine at the max advance (say  - 36 degrees) on te timing pointer, place the trigger in about the middle of the adjustment range, mount the trigger wheel with a magnet pointing at the trigger pickup - adjust as needed (multiple holes for the pully mount in the trigger wheel).  Bolt it up.  Get a spare distributor cap and drill a one inch hole between the coil tower and your chosen #1 tower.  Drop in the distributor with the rotor pointing in the general direction you decided for #1.  Put the test cap on, set the body so the rotor points at the #1 tower, looking through the hole.  Wire it up, fire it up.  Point the timing light in the cap hole and adjust the body to be sure the rotor is pointing to #1 when the plug fires.  Check advance on the timing pointer, adjust pickup down to advance, up to retard.  Re-check the rotor position with the timing light, then put on the regular cap and send it.

Bracket fits behind stock timing pointer and the trigger ended up down low because of where the alternator landed to clear the water pump. It's a mechanical dance for sure.  I'll post the 302 pic later because it's completely different.

[XR7]

The MSD BBC trigger wheel is .380 thick, the step is about .050. You will need to shim out the pullies. I would use a long square and check to see how much you need to move them, they aren't always perfect to begin with...

[gregaba]

Thanks for the helpful info.
I was wondering about the spacing. I think I will check around and see if I can find a thinner wheel.
Thankfully with Jays front cover and instructions mounter the sensor will be no problem.
Greg

[Henrysnephew]

   Fabbed this FE crank trigger setup 40+ years ago - worked well.  Crude (by today's standards) but effective.  Randy M

[gregaba]

Interesting.
I like your timing pointer.
I was in the shop checking all my distributors the other day and noticed how hard it is to turn them. 
They must take quit a bit of HP to run. Does any  one make a low resistance  ie easy to turn one since it just moves the rotor into the proper position?
I did want to run my tach drive disto but it is the hardest to turn.
Greg