Im looking to have the charger running soon and need a complete ignition system for it, what's the best for a mild street strip combo on a 440?

I have a high opinion of the Mopar factory electronic ignition. For a street car/occasional strip, I think it works great.

I would use a parts store ignition box for it or go for the 'chrome box' which is what I have. Steer clear of the 'orange box' as they have some well-known quality issues. I had one until it died after a month on my Charger.

Others here will say MSD but I think a bit pricey for a street car.

I ran the stock orange ECU and both of the FBO ECU's and one thing that I found to be the best upgrade was removing the ballast resister. I no longer have to worry about it not working and I no longer have to carry one in my car.

I am now using the MSD Streetfire #5520 module. I do agree that it is more expensive than the stock unit, and you have to bypass some of the stock wiring, but you can pick one up at your local Oreilly's ($149). It has LED's that help you diagnose or just let you know that it is running with enough voltage. It also has an adjustable rev limiter. This unit is one of the lesser expensive MSD boxes since it is a street unit, it is smaller in size and I believe they reference it as a #5 series (instead of the normal 6, or 7 series, etc.).

HMMM, depend's on what you call pricey. Im not scared to drop some coin on this car as iv had it since 1988 and don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. (edit)...$149, that's less than I spend on fuel getting to work and back at the moment. What's a MSD 6 or 7 go for?

Well I had read the 6 al was the go for street & strip use which is what brought me here as I do have plans to finish the 451/470 stroker at a later date....but we will see, so a small investment now might save me the head acke later.
any idea who has the best deal on a 6 al at the moment will help me decide on which way to turn at the moment. iv found heaps of aftermarket deals on the bag for $150 or less, just trying to do as much homework as I can before I buy.

As you know (& have read) there's many ways to go. I'd suggest a good new (NOS) or used non Mallory based basic 70's Mopar electronic dist. A good E coil/no ballast and a GM HEI aftermarket module mounted under the dist. Someone online sells the alum plate to mount it but it is pricey or just make you own easily & bolt it on up underneath with 2 bolts (dont forget the heat sink paste) or get a parts house Mopar ECU (& a spare)

1 8 3 4 6 5 7 2 get a decnet cap/rotor... and roll. 36* total advance at 2400rpm. Orange box is good, MSD is a waste of money, you could even use a "parts store" set-up and be fine.

Found this on the bag......





PRO SERIES FULLY ELECTRONIC IGNITION DISTRIBUTOR FITS, 440, 426, and 413 ENGINES

READY TO RUN TYPE ELECTRONIC IGNITION DISTRIBUTOR. LIFETIME WARRANTY, REGARDLESS OR STREET OR STRIP USE.





THIS UNIT IS CNC MACHINED.

PART NUMBER PE-342-R

LET US EXPLAIN WHAT THIS UNIT IS, AS WE HAVE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE ASK IF THIS UNIT WILL TAP INTO THEIR EXISTING FENDER WELL MOUNTED MODULE, (BRAIN BOX), AND IF THEY HAVE A POINT DISTRIBUTOR, THEY ARE WONDERING IF THEY NEED THE TYPICAL FENDER MOUNT MODULE TO GO WITH THIS AS CHRYSLER USED ON THEIR ELECTRONIC IGNITION. HERE IS WHAT THIS UNIT IS. IT'S A FULLY SELF CONTAINED HEI DISTRIBUTOR, WITH THE MODULE, ALSO CALL BRAIN BOX BUILT IN TO IT. YOU CAN GET RID OF EVERY BIT OF THAT DRIED UP WIRING, BRAIN BOXES, ETC, FROM YOUR OLD SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE BALLAST RESISTER, AND MODULE, (BRAIN BOX). ALL THIS UNIT NEEDS IS A FRESH 12 VOLT COIL, AND YOU SIMPLY HOOK UP THE TWO WIRES COMING FROM THIS DISTRIBUTOR TO THE COIL, AND THAT'S IT. NO OTHER WIRING NEEDED EXCEPT FOR THE POWER LEAD FROM THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THE COIL TO POWERED SOURCE. YOU WILL THEN HAVE A TOTAL OF TWO WIRES TAPPED INTO THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THE COIL, AND OF COURSE YOUR NEGATIVE WIRE FROM THE DIST. TO THE NEG. SIDE OF THE COIL. THIS UNIT OPERATES THE SAME AS THE GM HEI, EXCEPT IT DOE'S NOT HAVE THE COIL BUILT IN TO IT. EVEN IF YOU ALREADY HAVE ELECTRONIC IGNITION, AS THE ONE DESIGNED BY CHRYSLER AROUND 1973 THIS IS FAR SUPERIOR. THE FACT THAT YOU CAN ELIMINATE THAT MESS OF DRIED OUT WIRING, BRAIN BOX, AND BALLAST RESISTOR SHOULD BE REASON ENOUGH, NOT TO MENTION YOUR WELL WORN DISTRIBUTOR. IF YOU ARE RUNNING A POINT STYLE DISTRIBUTOR, YOUR GOING TO BE AMAZED WHEN YOU SWITCH OVER, AT THE WAY YOUR CAR STARTS, WARMS UP, AND PERFORMS. YOU SHOULD TRY THE COIL MENTIONED BELOW, AND YOU WILL HAVE THE ULTIMATE IGNITION SYSTEM. MAKE NO MISTAKE THIS IS A FULLY SELF CONTAINED ELECTRONIC IGNITION SYSTEM, EXCEPT FOR THE COIL. CHRYSLER ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS ARE PRIMITIVE COMPARED TO THIS, AND POINT STYLE DISTRIBUTORS ARE SIMPLY INSANE TO RUN. UNLEAD FUEL IS POORLY IGNITED WITH POINT TYPE IGNITION. NOTICE THE CHROME BOX ON THE LOWER SIDE OF OUR DISTRIBUTOR, THAT'S WHERE THE GM STYLE MODULE IS LOCATED. THE MODULE IS NOT THE VERY SAME MODULE GM USES, BUT IT IS THE SAME DESIGN PRINCIPAL. YOU ALL VERY WELL KNOW GM HAD THAT DESIGN RIGHT OVER 30 YEARS AGO. NOW YOU CAN OPEN YOUR PLUG GAP TO AROUND 45-50 INSTEAD OF 32-35 AS WAS REQUIRED WITH POINT SYSTEMS. THE SPARK THIS UNIT PRODUCES IS MANY TIMES STRONGER COMPARED TO POINTS.



This has to be the best money you could ever spend on your point style or oem electronic ignition system.

BRAND NEW IN THE BOX, COMES WITH A LIFETIME WARRANTY

We do have all replacement parts for this unit. Caps, rotor buttons, and modules.

Will fit big block mopar (RB motors) 413, 426, 440 (Will not fit 361,383, or 400) We do not have them available yet, but we do offer the model for the 318,340 engines in our other listings.

THIS UNIT IS IDENTICAL SIZE TO THE ORIGINAL POINT DISTRIBUTOR WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE MALE STYLE CAP. ALL MALE STYLE CAPS ARE ABOUT HALF AN INCH TALLER VS. THE FEMALE STYLE. ALL THAT'S NEEDED IS AN EXTERNAL 12 VOLT COIL. THIS UNIT IS SUPPLIED WITH A MALE STYLE CAP. WE DO OFFER THIS UNIT WITH A FEMALE STYLE CAP IN OUR OTHER LISTINGS. IF YOUR WIRES ARE BELOW 8MM SIZE YOU MUST UPGRADE TO THE LARGER SIZE WIRES. POINT STYLE DISTRIBUTORS WERE NOT DEMANDING ON PLUG WIRE SIZE DUE TO THE FACT THE VOLTAGE WAS MUCH LOWER COMPARED TO HEI IGNITION. IF YOUR BUYING WIRES THEN DO PURCHASE THOSE THAT HAVE THE TERMINALS THAT WORK WITH A MALE STYLE CAP. THIS IS A MUCH BETTER SETUP COMPARED TO THE OEM FEMALE STYLE CAP.

THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE FROM POINT TO ELECTRONIC IGNITION IS DRAMATIC TO SAY THE LEAST, NOT TO MENTION MOST EARLY POINT STYLE DISTRIBUTORS ARE WORE OUT.

MOPAR DIST

This distributor can be installed in less than 30 min to one hour.

NOTE FROM OUR COMPANY PRESIDENT, SKIP WHITE:

First of all, sorry to all you Mopar guys for us not supplying any parts till now. We are going to have more items very soon, but I couldn't pass this item up, as it's so versatile, and essential, especially if your running points.

It's fair to say that this unit will work in most vehicles that were built prior to 1977, and much later in the pickup trucks. all the way back to the late 60's, using the engines listed above. We have had so many Dodge owners request this unit. Another nice thing, it has a somewhat oem appearance, except for the small chrome module housing at the lower base of the distributor. This unit has a vac. advance, and I'm sure has a bit more aggressive curve plot to it.

ONCE AGAIN, HERE IS THE LIST OF ENGINES THAT THIS UNIT WILL FIT

413,426,440 CID ENGINES.

I believe Jegs has the MSD6AL box for $199. I run a Mallory dist as I got it for a good price and I use the MP orange box. I have had this box since 2001 and had no problems with it but I do plan to update to MSD sometime down the road. It is a multi-spark unit and can help keep the plugs cleaner even if it does not run any faster. Ron

Personally, I like a recurved factory distributor with a hidden 6al MSD under the battery. Clean, cheap, has a built in rev limiter and good off the shelf parts availability.

Mr. Gasket #925B is the spring kit for the distributor and the nylon bushing on the bottom (that usually breaks when you do the rebuild) is at Lowe's for 99 cents.

I got a mallory 685 cheap out of amazon - got it for the same price as the std boxes, has a rpm switch and boost retard, great if you want to look at giggle gas, shop around !

+1 recurve/msd
+1 factory elec (reluctor&curve done) with orange/chrome box

+1 Firecore, available at mancini and jegs, have not got one myself, but on my shopping list (still have points), the jegs branded one is the same unit, pretty easy adjustment for advance curve, check it out - yet to hear of an unhappy owner.

If you haven't rewired the engine bay, run new wires for the ignition and alt/starter/battery at the same time, the ignition needs good steady power to work well

On my '64Dog, I am using the DC electronic distributor, a $40 ebay MSD6, and the Jacobs chrome coil from a decade or two ago.
Works great.

I put the MSD on the inner fender so I could wire to it easier.

R.

I'm gonna try the Pertronix aluminum distributor and their coil. I should have around $300 in it and only have to run 2 wires. It has a Rev limiter too. No ignition box required.