[DeTomaso] DeTomaso Digest, Vol 95, Issue 11-Msd 6al

[RCBSONS1 at aol.com]

I have been running an Msd 6al in my car for about 8 years
No failures of the box although I do have a spare
As MIke has stated I have lost the carbon ball at the top
of the cap at least three times although not recently
The car has been welded on to put the cage in with no issues
I can tell you that the car does not run differently without the 
carbon ball... I do run an off road racing coil and it puts out a 
lot of voltage.. I even discovered that the coil wire was not touching
due to the boot after I raced the car the fist time in Vegas.. could
not tell... lots of voltage
 
I drive the car all the time... 137 miles last Saturday.. I also cruise
and idle the car a lot and think the coil keeps the plugs from loading up
 
I did lose the pickup in the distributor and think maybe the carbon
ball failures cased a buildup on the pickup. I just put my backup
distrib in it and bought the replacement part but it is still sitting in 
the box
 
Funny story when we were trying to figure out what went wrong with the elect
My buddy Rich the elect whiz and I hooked in the spare box, no luck, hooked
in the spare coil, no luck... then he said you have a spare distrib.. yes so
with the car jacked up, rear wheel pulled (access to my elect) and the 
front cover 
of the motor off he unplugged the old distrib, hooked in the new and hand 
turned the distrib
and one cylinder fired like a gun shot thru the 180's... we both jumped and
he said-yeah that's your problem and we installed the replacement distrib
 
Msd reliability
I hit the rev limiter on the track in Arizona on one section every time at 
7000 rpm
for just a second and still no issues with the box or cam
I believe heat and vibration are Msd's biggest issues.. mine is in the 
engine bay
on a plate mounted just in front of the water bottles-verticle inside the 
curve 
... my 180's go up so they don't cook the Msd but do fry the valve covers
and maybe give me higher oil temps.. just a thought
 
My 2 cents.... I hope the box does not go out next week
 
Bob Benson