Has anybody tried the new REV-N-NATOR electronic control box that Mancini sells? I am thinking about one for my 440 Challenger. I have a Hughes whiplash cam, Edelbrock performer intake, stock heads,hedman headers. Wondering if I will get any HP out of it. Any imput would be appreciated

you won't be dissapointed.

several threads about. I'm one of the users.

& get a compatible coil & dial in all of the dist subsystems to get the most out of it & your ign.

I have one, works great also got one of their "matching" coils with the order. Memorial holiday is coming up, might be a Mancini sale. I ordered mine direct from R/T Garage.

If you expect a power increase, you WILL be disappointed.
The rev limiter is great but the claims regarding a power increase are wildly exaggerated.

Can’t use vacuum advance. Power claims are sketchy.

I have not used the REV-N-NATOR, how does this ECU keep you from using vacuum advance?

The circuitry does not play well with vacuum advance. excessive detonation occurs.
I actually spoke with the man that builds these. He said to retard the timing 2-4 degrees from the norm as well.

You can read from their website about vacuum advance in the FAQ's. I actually plugged my va and my car runs great. Had a chrome box before and all I can say my car starts and runs better. Don't know about increase of hp, but Im happy it runs better.

http://thertgarage.com/

Why would you drive a street car without vacuum advance.
Too many benefits on a car that's not race only.

if detonation is happening, sounds like you need to try tuning the advance can through the intake nipple. as was stated by BWD : "too many benefits..." not to use it !

I bought one for my 67 race car ..

and, within a few passes, off it went and back to them , they did return my money but, not my shipping costs to and from

car , missed sputtered, started hard, tach needle jumped all over

I for one ,was very disappointed

The box gets the signal from the distributor.
The box interrupts power to the coil.
Coil field collapses and the energy it contained is sent out to the spark plug, through the distributor rotor and cap.

That is the essence of any spark box that isn't a CD box.

The only thing that could differ is how long it takes for the box to decide to stop power to the coil. Everything else happens just the same as in a points distributor.

It has been my suspicion all along that the electronics in the RNN are quite a bit faster than in the OEM boxes or stock replacements. I believe when a board member was researching the transistor on the stock-type boxes that he said it was a pretty slow transistor. So brand-new electronics could be reducing the lag time between signal and result, causing the engine to have a spark earlier (more advance).

The only other way I could see this happening is that the box calculates when to fire the NEXT plug based on the signal from the previous cylinder. However, neither of these guesses involves anything associated with engine vacuum.

Therefore, I suspect the instruction to not use vacuum advance is the lazy man's way to tell us to recurve the distributor based on the quicker operation of the RNN.

Bolstering my description of the workings of the RNN is the initial advertising blitz touting horsepower gains in double figures, just by installing a different ignition box. I acknowledge that in some cases with highly tuned engines, a different spark box might increase power. But the engines they cited were not highly tuned racing engines.

The easiest way to show a hp gain from a box which one knows to operate more quickly is to perform the baseline test with the ignition timing backed off or retarded from the max power advance. Then the quick box electronically advances the ignition event and the power is restored.

I've said this all before, as some of you are grumbling right now. So maybe this is for the lurkers or newbies. You others can run along.

Finally, I have NOTHING against the Rev-N-Nator. I applaud the determination to produce a stock appearing ignition box for a limited market, that contains quality components. I hope everyone reading this post will go out and buy TWO, so we can keep these guys in business.

R.

I was searching more reliability on stock form than performance actually after my bad experiences with MP boxes. And honestly I didn't get dissapointed about.

Aside that, got a smooth ride and good performing, Fast start up, ( not faster than a chromed box thought ). I'm using the vacuum. Having pinging BUT is not related to the Vacuum, since I have disconnected the vacuum and still the same, so will be plugged again, althought limited to 4 to 6 degrees ( adjusting the internal screw ). Is not a race car even being a stroked engine.

The unit I got cames from the first batch ( 00020 S/N ) and on a release offer ( $120 or so ), no tach lead or any later upgrade. Simply got satisfied with what I was searching for and what I paid after 3 MP chromed failed units ( $210 in total ).

I would (1) set the initial with the "vacuum gauge method" then (2) with the FBO $25 plate, set the total to the norm for the eng type (35 for a SB) which will get you "close" then (3) mix & match springs (do toss out the thick one with the elongated loop on one end & sub in a mr gasket/MP/transdapt light spring in its place for a start) & any combo advances in a linear fashion so you are just under the pinging point at WOT up thru the gears on your hottest/driest (most likely to ping) day & peoples' hearing varies & there is silent ping so give your eng a cushion as ANY ping is extremely damaging then (4) plug in the can to ported & adj it so you are just under the pinging point in everyday driveing conditions of varying RPM/load on your hottest/driest day (CCW with a 3/32 allen wrench slows the onset of it but the curve amt (total from it) stays the same & you can work with the notch to limit the total (takes alot of of work to get it dead on). FBO touts manifold vac adv which has a different procedure & some people swear by it (no exp here). confirm the bushing/rotor phasing are good & vac adv swings the RP in the opposite direction of rotation and it increases the reluctor/pickup gap (which may or may not delay the spark, that'd be an engineering question). get a cap with brass terminals & keep them sharp with a dremel (reduced required voltage).

sorry if i ruffled feathers with my comment. that was not my intent. please accept my apology. i was only suggesting a more thorough tune up procedure.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Always alot of good advice here . I'm hearing that I won't notice any "significant" HP gain over my MP Orange Box/Petronix Flame Thrower Coil Combo.Guess I will spend the money somewhere else on my car.

I see nobody has mentioned the FACT that the orange box and all other Transistorized ECU's retard the timing 8* under load starting at about 3200 and by 5200 its all done. 8* degrees of retard and output dropping to 50% or less depending on the coil is just not an acceptable Ignition control unit.

Waste of time and money... there's a reason they have ZERO warranty.

Are they Made by Mopar? or are they a Chinese low grade plagiarized copy?
Makes the little hair I have stand on end when I hear people refer to that POS as a "Mopar Orange Box" it's NOT.

If you have the correct testing equipment it's "Capt Obvious" that they are worthless in any performance or even a mild street application.... unless mediocrity is your main objective... I prefer excellence.

The adjusting screw in the vac can has nothing to do with the number of degrees the vac can advances the timing it only changes the sensitivity of the can based on amount of vac generated.

If it's detonating there's something wrong, either the distributor is not set up correctly, the vac can is plugged into the emissions port (ported). Or you have too much heat and pressure in the combustion chamber, both of these conditions need to be present to create a "Ping".

3 year warranty? the RT Garage website has shown....

*2018 Rev-N-Nators are coming in! Shipping first to prepaid customers and those on waiting list. To purchase ICUs, inquire what is available between shipments. Send us an email*

*2017 ICUs currently not available*

2018 is nearly 1/2 over? That's been on there for over 6 months, better hope yours doesn't fail.

Since 2/12 we have never had a B/O on the HRR688 and we still have a .001 Warranty rate(2 out of nearly 6000 Units).
Estimating over a million miles a year being clocked with over 6 years in service.

There ya go using that "MP" designation again.... add: NOT MP Chrome box. Use "Chinese copy of MP Chrome box"