msd distrubitor question

[fryedaddy]

i fired my 428 up after sitting for 9 months. next time i tried to start it,it would not fire up.the rotor button had a hole burned in the center medal piece,the ball in the inside top center of the cap looked melted and the mech advance springs were rusted,condensation i guess.i pulled the cap and wires off without paying attention to where they were on the cap.i spun the motor over and found top dead but problem is it looks like the rotor is pointing between two plug wires but it is closer to the one to the left side of the pointer.i did not pull the distributor and it was running great.i ordered a new cap and rotor but i wanted to make sure and wire it back right.why is pointer not looking like its pointing directly at wire?

[blykins]

Advance.  Your engine doesn’t run at TDC, so if you turn it over to where your timing is usually set, you will see the rotor point at the terminal.

[fryedaddy]

bbm heads.my timing is set at 33,are you saying i need to put the pointer at 33 before tdc

[Jb427]

I think Brent means your base timing like mine is 18deg @ idle and 32deg @ 3000rpm if you didn't pull the dizzy you should be fine those MSD's are real bad for rusting

[fryedaddy]

thanks guys.it worked.

[blykins]

bbm heads.my timing is set at 33,are you saying i need to put the pointer at 33 before tdc

Roll the engine over so that it's 20-30° before TDC on the compression stroke, put the distributor in with the rotor pointed at #1 plug wire on the cap, fire it up, set timing back to where you had it.

[fryedaddy]

i replaced the msd cap and rotor,hooked it back up and it wont start.remember it was running fine till it burned a hole in the rotor button after sitting for several months.the springs were rusted,do you think the pickup in the distributor may be rusted and not working properly??

[Jb427]

Have you checked the silly stuff like plug leads are going to the right plugs? and do you have spark at the plugs?
could be magnetic pickup or coil

A friends xy falcon circuit race car had not been run for years took it out ran fine all day long went to load it on the trailer and it would not start after hours of looking at things it was the magnetic pickup died he went through 2 new pickups and the 3rd is still working now years later

[fryedaddy]

i didn't change anything.it was running fine then it burned a hole in the rotor tip and would not start,i replaced the cap and rotor,still wont start.i double checked the wiring but it has not been messed with since running.it almost has to be the box,pickup,or the coil

[Jb427]

It dose seem like it could be box pickup or coil you can test the box msd box instructions should have how to test that msd should have a way to test the pickup and coil too

[machoneman]

https://www.cpperformance.com/Instructions/MSD_Troubleshooting.pdf

[6667fan]

Wire it w/o box for a test.
 I keep a back up set of plug in leads for 12v and coil connections in car for the next time the box decides it does not want to work anymore. ( distributor is a Ready To Run).

[cjshaker]

My guess would be the pickup. I've replaced 3...or 4 (can't remember now) of them in the last several years. They're junk, and they can "check" good, but still be bad. Twice I got stranded from this issue. I now keep a complete spare distributor in the trunk, just in case. It's easier to just swap it out, than to mess with taking the pickup out. But I also carry a spare pickup with the spare distributor. Yeah, they're that bad.

[cjshaker]

I don't put any stock in the "test" that MSD says to do to check the box. I made this video 6 years ago, I think after the 1st or 2nd failure I had. I was trying to find anything that could be causing the issue I was having at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85PLiA8qIr0

Jumping the pickup wires should produce an immediate spark, at least according to MSD. When I did that, I got nothing, repeatedly. That alone should indicate a bad box. But when I went to ANY other ground on the car, it sparked immediately. My box is wired completely independent of everything else on the car, so no external cause could be an issue. The car would not start until I replaced the pickup. Maybe they had a period of faulty production, I don't know, because like JB mentioned above, my last pickup has seemed to be okay for about 3 years now.

[Jb427]

I don't put any stock in the "test" that MSD says to do to check the box. I made this video 6 years ago, I think after the 1st or 2nd failure I had. I was trying to find anything that could be causing the issue I was having at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85PLiA8qIr0

Jumping the pickup wires should produce an immediate spark, at least according to MSD. When I did that, I got nothing, repeatedly. That alone should indicate a bad box. But when I went to ANY other ground on the car, it sparked immediately. My box is wired completely independent of everything else on the car, so no external cause could be an issue. The car would not start until I replaced the pickup. Maybe they had a period of faulty production, I don't know, because like JB mentioned above, my last pickup has seemed to be okay for about 3 years now.

First pickup had lasted for 2 engines in that race car. But when the pickup died would of been close to the time you had your DOA new pickups. I will say with the car sitting long times between uses inside the msd looked really bad everything under the cap that could rust was very crusty and rusted. Im not sure if that is any part of the prob but it sure dose not look like it could be good. I think i only ever had a box die in my car

"lost all the photos of mine on the track this was last photos before it got sold to buy the fairlane"