new recurved duraspark or Mallory unilite

[newfalconowner]

I guess with anything built now a days,, things fails.. quality isn't included in parts anymore. thanx a lot

[IDOIT4SPEED]

 I have had good and bad luck with each. seen at least 15 MSD 6A/ 6T boxes fail. four happened to me . the car would run, but was flat slight miss you just could not tune out. the only sign any thing was wrong was the timing light had a strange flash to it. new box , fixed. on the other hand I have some boxes last 20+ years. one has at least 80000 miles on it. the Mallory stuff I have seen go bad works or it does not, you just never know some day your car wont start. my hauler is set up with ford duraspark with blue strain relief box. I carry a spare box with and a point distributor for backup. you just never know.

[newfalconowner]

guess I will always carry the one distributor I don't use and a timing light in the trunk  lol..

[427Fastback]

I have run duraspark in everything and never had a failure.I have MSD stuff in my 67 as its a clone of a race car..
My 68 427 car has always had duraspark.I use the stock ford box,msd wires,msd coil and a oem recurved dist.Never had a problem.It would rev cleanly to 6400 and never fouled or lost a spark plug..I will be putting it all back in this spring..
I ran a MSD box(with duraspark) in my FE powered F-250 and it failed eventually (2 years).
Unless you are going to drag race the car I would just keep it simple and run the Ford Ign..
JMO......

[My427stang]

The Duraspark is and has always been a great distributor, as is the MSD which I believe uses the same magnetic pickup.  I wouldn't hesitate to run a Duraspark in any engine, in fact, my 445 FE has one and has had one in the 71 F100 that holds it since 1988, same distributor the whole time.

For the guys that had Unilites fail though, did you ever check running voltage after start and after a few minutes?

If not, then don't be too quick to blame the module, running voltage is specified.  Unfortunately the instructions don't say "check it or you'll be walking" if they did, we, myself included, would have looked closer the first time.

[cammerfe]

In regard to the use of Mallory, I'm reminded of the thought that breakfast doesn't cause lunch.

You had an ignition problem and assumed the problem was with the parts labeled Mallory.

The very first hot rod thing I ever did was to put a Mallory dual-point conversion kit in the distributor on the family flathead '53 Merc. All the factory components were such that misfire was induced at about 30 MPH when everything was working fine. The dual points offered enough extra dwell to make the ignition work gloriously.

Then I got a chance to get a used Mallory distributor and coil. Since Mallory was in western Detroit at the time, I took it over to them and was invited in the side door where they completely re-built the stuff for me---as a kindness---to an ignorant high-school kid---and wouldn't even charge me anything.

Over the years they have continued to show the same sort of customer relations attitudes and in doing so have gained my undying gratitude. I've had more Mallory complete ignitions, factory distributors with Unilite guts, and variations on the theme than I can reliably count. I've never had a Mallory failure.

KS

[thatdarncat]

Diverging a bit from the question, but Uniltes do indeed crap out if not fed correctly. It's all in the directions, but for some reason, people, including me when I installed my first one, ignore it or assume it's fine.

The key here is thinking about what the distributor sees when it makes a ground, not what it sees for a feed to the module.  Unilites can handle over 14V to the LED light bulb, so the red feed wire really can be fed by about anything, where it gets dicy is what your coil sees on the positive side, especially after the battery is charged.

Mallory says 10V if I remember correctly, that and the proper coil, controls stray voltage at the module as it completes the circuit and collapses the coil field.  If just run with a standard resistor wire to the coil, or the incorrect coil or ballast, they can last forever or not too long. Jay, you likely can explain better what is seen by the distributor when the coil collapses,

Faron actually turned me onto that after I had a failure in a not so nice part of Vegas.  When I checked running voltage at the coil, I was well over 13V, added the correct resistor and never lost another.

People add surge protectors on the feed side of the module, check the voltage there, you name it, but when you dig into Mallory's guidance, it's very clear, and they even mention is severe cases to run a condenser on the neg side of the coil to stabilize what the module sees from the backside.

Again, none of this is a factor if you are running a CD box, the box manages the coil, the distributor turns into a low voltage switch

That being said, absolutely true statement, Dursapark doesn't need nearly the thinking, nor does any magnetic pickup that I know of.

Ross has good advice as well and something else I will probably save for when one of my friends asks me to help figure out why their car won't run.

[thatdarncat]

"Over the years they have continued to show the same sort of customer relations attitudes and in doing so have gained my undying gratitude."

The issue though is Mallory was swallowed up by MSD ( as part of the MR. Gasket group ) about a year ago and I think the plans were to phase it out. I don't know that any of your helpful Mallory people are left. MSD wasn't the company they used to be, after their bankruptcy a few years ago they were bought out by a private equity firm. Now word comes that Holley bought MSD and all the old Mr. Gasket companies including Mallory. There is an interview with the CEO of Holley in the new March 2016 Hot Rod magazine and he wants to capitalize on the Mallory brand name and keep some of that stuff around. I guess we'll see how this all pans out. My hope is that we can keep some of these quality brands and products around and not be stuck with ProComp junk as our only choice some day.

[cammerfe]

When the above happened, I was a 16-year-old kid and all the Mallory guys were seasoned adults---likely in their 30s and 40s. And now I'm an old fart so they are all, likely, gone. But I take your point. None-the-less...

KS

[427Fastback]

All the above is good info...I am not putting down Mallory or MSD..I used to run those big black Mallory coils and am a fan of MSD stuff...
Sometimes less is better and keeping it simple leaves more time to concentrate on other issues..

[newfalconowner]

Thanx for all who replied. seems the majority use msd. well I cant afford one, they are 300US new and by the time it gets to my door that is close to 500 canadian.. I have a NEW RECURVED duraspark, and a Mallory with NEW electronics, cap and rotor, so that is what I have and is the reason for my question. In a perfect world where I didn't care about a 500. dollar distributor I would choose an msd to go with my box, coil and wires, but its far from perfect, so I'm stuck with a duraspark or unilite.. I will try both out, and see what one looks better and performs the way I need it too.. The Mallory has the looks I'm going for to suit my motor, and my tunnel ram when I bolt it on this spring, so more then likely going to use that one and keep the duraspark for a spare or just may sell it for what I paid hopefully. I don't really care for fuel economy (1 or 2 mpg with the advance hooked up so don't need the vac advance unit it has, and it doesn't suit my tunnel ram to me.

If I remember I will plug in a seat of the pants feel for both here.

Thanx

Rick

[ScotiaFE]

My MSD ignition is a FAIL.
Distributor FAIL.
Digital 6 Box FAIL.

Duraspark, I have never had a failure.

[Nightmist66]

Pertronix here.... Cheap, effective, looks stock. I've used the ignitor II and currently ignitor III. The III has the built in rev limiter also. If you absolutely want the look of the Mallory, well.....

[C6AE]

I like the Pertronix, and have retrofitted it to old, cheap Mallory point type distributors because of the ease of setting up the timing curve.

Edit; I have learned the hard way that the Pertronix module must use a ground strap. Especially with vacuum advance. The OEM points style strap works fine. The movable points plate does not ground well. (Once upon a time I maintained a small fleet of International gas rigs that we converted to "Perlux" modules which was the predecessor to Pertronix. Best thing we ever did for those trucks.)

[427Fastback]

If I am even near a Pertronix it just fails..I have never had one work out...Interstate batterys don't like me either...