I've been having ignition problems from a faulty ecm. Typical Chinese garbage. Any suggestions on what the best unit available is now

The MP chrome get fairly good reviews. a $25 parts house Standard Motor Products 4 pinner would get you going tho these are made in China now. I'd get a JY mid/late 70's OE chebby black HEI module and a full 12V E coil & use a non Mallory (OE 70's) regular Mopar dist.

The ground on those were a pain.

My orange MP control module on my 63 has been working good since I bought it around 1999. I do hear some complain about the newer ones. As said the chrome usually get good ratings. Ron

The latest Orange boxes have had alot of issues..
On my RR I have been running the Chrome box and its been trouble-free. I also have an MSD 6 box and can interchange between the Chrome box in about 5 minutes. I actually like the Chrome box better than the MSD, engine starts easier and seems to run smoother...


Just my $0.02...

It's easy to say "Acme Autoparts" are made in China but if one doesn't have firsthand knowledge, it's worthless at best, misleading or deliberately harmful at worst.

When I went looking for the pickup coil for my 318 distributor I looked at Standard Motor Parts. They very clearly state in their literature that they supply two lines, the higher quality and more expensive Standard and Standard Blue Streak line, which they manufacture, and the Standard T-series, which is made to their specifications.

http://eaccess.smpcorp.com/eCatalogs/Downloads/EMD/Standard_The_Choice_is_Yours.pdf

When I ordered my pickup coil I used the wrong ad in Ebay and got the T-series, definitely made in China and so labeled. If I had purchased the Standard top line, it would have been made in the USA.

I did an ebay search for the Mopar electronic ignition boxes and found quite a handful. The Standard LX101, an old AC Delco box, Even an old Wells in a bubble pack. There were a couple of NOS Mopar boxes. So if you want to keep on using the Mopar electronic ignition, get online and buy one, or six.

Looking at the pictures it's easy to tell there are two different styles. There's the expensive style that has the transistor mounted on a floating plate, rectangular with one corner cut off. Then there's the less expensive one with the transistor mounted on the one piece heat sink. I'd tend to go with the more expensive style as IIRC that's what the original Mopar boxes looked like.

Somebody had to build those original boxes for Mopar, right?

R.

Anyone ever try one of those rev'n'nator boxes? USA made and built in adjustable rev limiter.

I haven't used one but the only thing that is not in their favor is how they released them with big horsepower gains. I think their advantage over the original boxes comes down to better electronics and a faster switching transistor.

FBO has their HRR688 Daytona Sensors board mounted inside a machined aluminum case and he claims no spark retard until 7000rpm. Again I think better electronics and a faster transistor. FBO is selling box, coil and some wiring for $189.99, shipping included. His box also has an easily settable rev limiter and a light to tell you system is OK.

Frankly I don't think you could go wrong with either, or even with my $40.00 used MSD6. There's been so much hype around ignition systems, wires, coils, boxes, even rotors, that one can hardly believe any one system is better than another, except in real high compression motors or real high rpm motors.

R.

I have a rev-n-nator, and happy with it

Good info Dog.

I agree with you there dogdays. I think too many street guys are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist with their ignition systems. If you want a rev limiter and modern electronics, and to retain the stock wiring and appearance, the rev'n'nator and fbo units sound like good choices. I also have a used msd and crane multi spark boxes sitting on the shelf somewhere, in the end I decided on a ready to run distributor with no external ecu, ballast and gutted the factory wiring.

I have a Rev n nator and very happy with mine too. Also got their matched coil.

and in the for sale section, there are some "orange" boxes for $12.00

I saw that, sure sounds tempting! EDIT & Nacho posted a Motorola transistor for them if (when) it goes bad (MJ 10005) & iirc something about confirming it is grounded well inside. The goo would be a mess to deal with but you would get alot of satisfaction from bring a problem part back to life.

it seems i devote a bunch of my time bringing [or trying to] stuff back to life, even though, in the long run, it would be better just to replace the item. like the saying goes : "time is money, but i got much more time than money"

hear, hear...

My primary biz is developing/sourcing consumer electronic products from overseas mainly China. Most of the subject products are for car audio, home theater systems and multimedia accessories. However I ran into a contact that sells after-market ignition modules to various customers through-out the world. I reviewed his catalog and found a module for Chrysler, I checked the price..
It was $3.75 each in quantities of 250 pcs, landed cost to the USA including duties, shipping, branding and packaging would be about $4.50. That will give U an indication about how much markup is possible..

Just my $0.02...

back around 1970 or so, i was told by the manager of the best parts store in town [there was six or seven at that time] there was 100% mark up at every step of the part [every part] transmission from the manufacture to the selling store. so, for example, if you bought a part for $10.00, the total mark up, at 100% for every stop made at various warehouses and distribution points, means that particular part was only [possibly] pennies to make. i don't know if that is true today, but i think it may be pretty close.

On certain items that is true..
However in certain product categories such as flat panel HD video displays it is not... Manufacturing in China especially for certain consumer electronics stuff, the factories use a high degree of automation/robotics and pricing is very tight. However what many people may not realize is that for products such as flat panel displays the retail pricing in domestic China markets may be be 20-40% higher than the USA..

Basically the Chinese consumer electronic factories run on quantity unit volume as to get the lowest component prices, 80% may be exported @ breakeven but the biggest profit is for sales within China..

Just my $0.02...

I just purchased a Standard LX101 this week for my Charger which the original was melted all down the firewall, still works though! I am happy to see they are still made in USA as this has been my go to replacement over the years.

Guts of an old Mopar Orange ECU: