[DeTomaso] I love MSD...I hate MSD....

[Tom Di Iulio]

Even though it's likely you're going to buy a new msd box, send in the
old one and have it repaired. There's a set price to fix it no matter
what the issue ($125?) and then you can keep that one as a backup. 
Tom Di Iulio
Denver, CO

Hi guys,

So, today was the big Capitol Panteras tech session, at Rick Carlile's
shop 
in Sacramento.  My Pantera is really coming together, but there are a
few jobs 
that are nice to have a second set of hands for, so this morning I fired
up 
and drove up there.

Rick, Jim and Emilia Seiferling and I were the only Panteras in
attendance; a 
couple of other people drifted in and out during the day.  Jim and I
tackled 
a number of small jobs on my car (i.e. replacing the nuts securing the
upper 
rear balljoints, lubricating my rear swaybar bushings, and cleaning up a
rat's 
nest of wiring in the engine bay by the ignition components).  Most of
the day 
was actually spent working on Rick's 1969 TVR race car; he is tearing it
all 
apart to rebuild it one nut and bolt at a time.

So Jim and I wound up taking all four corners off the car, which wasn't
as 
easy as it sounds, since most of the fasteners had never been off since
it was 
built.

After a day well-spent, I jumped back into my Pantera, heading for Chris

Difani's house, where we were going to do a bit of fabrication work on
my car 
(making a lid for my sunken battery box).  The car started right up, I
drove it 
two blocks to the freeway, and as I made a left turn, it suddenly died,
then 
came right back to life.  Hmm, odd.  I went another hundred feet or so,
and just 
as I was getting onto the onramp, it just quit, and quit for good.

Damn.

So, on the side of the road, I called PanteraStar, which in this case
was 
Rick and Jim.  Soon they were with me on the side of the road, testing
equipment 
and wires going this way and that.  Electricity is my VERY weak point,
and 
ignition systems are magic as far as I'm concerned, so my duties were
limited to 
turning the key on and off when told, and also standing around and
looking 
philosophical.

Alas, it appears the MSD box has turned into an NSD, i.e. No Spark
Discharge. 
 I had never really looked closely at its installation (another club
member 
installed the whole ignition system for me at a tech day, while I busied
myself 
in my element, rebuilding my umpteenth steering rack).  Turns out he had

failed to rubber-mount it, so it's possible that it simply shook itself
to death.  

In any case, there appears to be a new MSD box in my immediate future.  
Fortunately Jim is working a half-day tomorrow, and he has the Big Head
on all this 
stuff, so I'm going to sic him on it while I go out and polish his
wheels or 
something. :>)

Here's a photo, with Rick Carlile's Pantera just ahead....

http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/NSD.jpg

Mike<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> See what's
free at 
http://www.aol.com.</HTML>
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