Mopar Electronic Ignition ICU box recommendation?

I have heard many negative things re: the Mopar "Orange" ICU boxes. Are they all considered "no good"? Or, is there an early version....or whatever version that is a good reliable and well performing unit?

Also, looking for recommendation on any known reliable and high performing aftermarket units (Standard Ignition, Wells etc.). Hoping for something made in the USA or Canada.

I am installing electronic ignition on a 70 440-6 engine. Wanting good reliability and performance up to 6K RPM's or so.

Thanks in advance! Joe

http://www.thertgarage.com/

reportedly (by a # of people) the newer orange ones have a less than stellar failure rate (tho we are the complaint dept & we get the problems) & the older ones were moderately OK. I would go to a yard & get one or two OE later ones (4 pinners) OR one or two from a parts house & the problem there is most are made overseas now & have reported reliability issues (why you get one or two) & if you can find a made in US of A unit for sale I would purchase it (take the time to have your parts house do some checking & get back to you on this). Ebay would be worth checking. Do some homework on the ballast ohms also (depends on your coil).

My new Orange box lasted about 2 months. I bought several old boxes from the junk yard and I haven't had a bad one since.
I had just painted the car so there could have been a grounding issue that helped kill the new one.

The old school Mopar part numbers are all discontinued. I still have a few from the '80s and '90s that work well. Maybe I should sell them?

I ran traditional mopar ign for alot of years then went another way, and tried a hybrid ign that I had read alot of AMC off road guys running. Here are a couple links about that if interested. the module is easy to hide.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2286360/1.html

for the original "look"
https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/hei-in-mopar-ecu-casing.252705/

It won't be original, so why not a MSD 6A or 6AL?

Pretty stock 6 pack build.....not fond of the look of the MSD stuff. Originality of the engine compartment will be maintained except for the small wiring differences and the non dual point distributor.

I dummy-up my Rev or nator and couldn't be happier!!
Ron

Thanks for the replies......found a Mopar Chrome box that I am going to give a try. Fingers crossed!

Chrome boxes have a good rep (best of all the Mopar ECU's).

Agreed... IF DOESN'T FAIL, the Chromed piece is the best of all MP pieces. Faster start up and hot aceleration... sometimes I felt like loossing some beat, but still noticed the power with it.

Since I got tired of MP failed boxes ( and the old A688 FBO ), went with the Rev-N-Nator long time ago. A bit smoother than the MP, but still hot without miss a beat

Years back Mopar said if its a street car that will idle for 30 minutes then don't use the chrome box. But many have used them for years. Back in the late 90's I had a mild 383 Dart that ran 12's so I bought the orange MP ECU since its a street car and will idle a lot. I bought it around 98 or 99 and its still running fine as its been on my 63 since 2006 and was on the Dart which my son now owns from the late 90's until 2006. My son bought MSD we installed on his Dart after we put a 400 in it. His car ran the same 11.40's with the MSD ign and the MP orange ECU. So I took the orange ECU with an older Acell Super Coil and still run it on my 63. It runs in the 10's as a street car and never misses a beat. I have checked my timing and it is not retarding my timing at higher rpm as many say newer ones do. Best I can tell you is my sons Dart started , idled and ran the same with the orange MP ECU as it did with the MSD ign. I have not run a newer one so I cant say but this one I bought in the late 90's has been flawless. I am not sure what the best ones are today but it may be the Rev-N-Ator ECU from what I have heard. I don't even know if anyone sells the chrome one anymore ? Good luck , Ron

Here is a pic of one I bought about 10 years or so ago...
P/n is P4120534

The Rev-N-Nater and FBO's box are two that I'd suggest. I don't believe either is rebuildable. Both use digital modern technology with an inductive spark. After all these years the OEMs are still using inductive spark, there must be a reason.

It's really laughable what people say about the various stock type boxes. 15 years ago the complaints were all about the Chrome boxes. People were failing them right and left and replacing with Orange boxes. Now it's the Orange boxes that are the bad ones and Chrome is good. Stock replacement boxes are hit and miss. Stock OEM boxes are "good" now but back in the day they were what everyone threw away when installing an Orange or Chrome box.

20 years ago, Dr. Chris Jacobs in his guide to electronic ignitions said the Standard LX-101 was about as good as it got without buying one of his units. If you decide to go this route keep in mind that Standard Motor Products has two lines, the regular and the "T" series. The T series is their budget or "Thrift" line.

R.

interesting the Transistor in it, not the ON one I have got failed in 3 modules ( MJ10012 )

well I just can talk about the chromed box ( with the ON MJ10012 transistor )... 3 failed in 2 years... ( that was 8-9 years ago )... run an orange box for couple of months while I was getting the Rev-N-Nator. Sold the orange to a buddy of mine

FBO A688... failed in 6 months or so.

HiRev 7500... used for couple of weeks just for testing, Now my trunk spare, but a friend of mine got it failed in 3 months

Went through another box, second in two months. Ordered some standard boxes from RockAuto. So far,so good. I still have an orange MO box on my GTS. So far no problems. I always carry a spare which is a ProForm. The other boxes that failed were ProForm.

I have had the black version Rev-n-ator on one of my Chargers for years with no issues. I have it mounted down low under the horns out of sight on the frame rail. I like the built in rev limiter just in case even though it is an automatic.

I've had good luck going with a pertronix II conversion in a points Dist. with their coil and a bypassed ballast resistor so I could pick up the pos wire right off the coil vs the Mopar elec. setup. Also retains a more stock look with everything under dist cap.

I have that book. a good read. I think back then that LX was American made but now it is made in china.

I've got a Pertronix in a 528 that is nothing, but a street car, never missed a beat.

http://www.designed2drive.com/






.

The designed to drive HEI bracket looks clean but I think you're better off mounting the HEI module off the engine and on a heat sink to keep it cooler.

I upgraded from a Mopar Orange Box to a GM HEI system this summer and I like the HEI's ability to ignite a leaner fuel mixture. See HEI Ignition Upgrade.

Frank, Thanks for the work you did on your website. Very informative and got some good links to other site that google did not surface!

I have an orange Rev-N-nator on my Duster, and I also like the rev limit feature it has.

as far I know, Don from 4secondsflat stop making the A688 FBO module because they were made by Standard per request under his specs, but when they moved the production to China began the quality issues so he stop to produce them. Shame because they were GREAT units. Maybe my only 6 months working unit was one of those ? can't tell

His web site now says this: Modern Electronics and engineering using the most modern components available and Engineered, Designed, Manufactured and Assembled IN THE USA

Yes, that's for the new units, but I'm talking about the OLD stock look A688 unit

Yeah, the new one is HRR688

And there was an intermediate model called HR688 which it was the aluminium box with an HEI module hidden inside.

Having dealt with Don, I can assure you it would have been a MADE IN USA HEI module.