First of all, this isn't meant to be an MSD bashing post. Many, many people have had excellent results with MSD, I just haven't been one of them. I really don't want to go through my history of issues with it, suffice to say it's cost me a lot of time and money, and a friend of mine is an outstanding fabricator (see the post on the Charger 500, he did the restoration) who specializes in wiring, so I have some talent on my side.

I have, for a while, wanted to ditch the MSD and go back to points. I have a 68 Presolite dual point that I rebuilt and has been ready to go for a while, and finally installed it yesterday, ripping all the wiring out and putting a stock engine bay wiring harness in. I was finally prompted to do this as I happened to be browsing here not long ago when I saw a post where someone was asking about the best ignition system for his 383, and fully half the answers said points.

I was out the hobby for many years, so when I bought the road runner about 10 years ago, everyone said I had to put MSD in. It had an old Accel dual point distributor in when I bought it, the kind with the externally adjustable points. I didn't really see the point (pun intended) but wanted a rev limiter, and that was the only way, at the time, I knew to get one.

At one point, trying to diagnose the MSD issues, I put that Accel distributor in to eliminate the whole MSD system, and the engine ran at least as strong as it has ever run, and my neighbor/mechanic/mechaical engineer/racer swears it was as strong as he ever felt it. And I have no idea of the condition of the points in that distributor or how close the dwell is, I've never checked.

Anyway, putting probably 2k miles on the car a year, I have no issue at all cleaning and gapping the points once a year to have a much, much simpler system in. Spare points, condenser, ballast resistor in the glove box, and I'm set for failures.

Pertronix has a rev limiter with just 4 wire connections needed, and I already have those in the existing MSD harness in the car, so (as long as their unit works) all I need to do is make a connector for the wires from the Pertronix box to plug into the existing harness and I'm good to go.

It was probably in the low 50's here yesterday, and when I fired up the car, there was no discernible difference between firing it up cold with the MSD and with the points. I know it's just my imagination, but I swear it runs smoother and stronger with the points.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to "life of points with road runner".

Will post back when I get the rev limiter in, have a tach connection, and feel better about hammering it.

To each his own but it sounds to me like you have other issues. I have NEVER had any issues with electronic ignition.

Yes, I agree completely. I'm just tired of tracing them down and not getting anywhere. And if it runs just as well with points, I haven't lost anything.

I guess another thing to mention is that I enjoy tinkering with the car. If this was s daily driver, there is no way I would have points in there. But once or twice a year to take half an hour and clean and adjust the points, if it's even necessary, I have no issue with.

I also agree that something else is going on, but at some point it just isn't worth the time and frustration when there is another solution that not only works just as well, but for myself, is more like what these cars were back in the day, and what I did as a teenager when I owned the car.

As Bob said, to each his own.

I don't see anything wrong with what your doing. if I had the parts i'd do the same thing.

The MSD systems need a good ground to work properly. Make sure your ground (or grounds) are clean and tight.

I switched out my car from Chrysler boxes over 40 years ago and never looked back. 5-6 cars with MSD distributors and MSD ignition boxes with two more cars added to the list hopefully this year.

I've never had an issue with an MSD. Mostly 7ALs and coils with a crank trigger. Plug wires, RFI, engine issues I thought were ignition related, but nothing I traced to the box.

My experience is that when replacing a conventional OE electronic or points system, the engine sounds noticeably better when you start it with the MSD system. Noticeably.

What you give up with points is spark energy and RPM potential. Under maybe 4.5 - 5K should be OK if the parts are kept fresh.

Something is wrong if you can't get an MSD to run as good or better than a system that went away in like 1973. Grounds, incompatible parts, RFI, something.

He is happy with his points.. so be it... I never had a problem with MSD

Using the WHITE wire I have run a MSD 6A on an old 273 off a Dual point Dizzy. I did block the trailing points open as the extended dwell did not help. And I did bypass the ballast resistor when running the 6A.
My only issues back then was the CRAP OEM 18 gauge wiring and bulkhead connectors and lack of tight grounds. I had wired around the connectors with 14 gauge and doubled up all grounds.

Mick...It's not a car but I have a 63 John Deere 3010 that had the points replaced with a Pertronix ignition kit. Starts and runs great! I get a lot of compliments on how it's the best running 30 series anyone has heard!

All the drag race motors I've converter from points to a race MSD box,404B,404C 7,7A , 7C and 7AL2 with the correct coils have all started way better when cold and idle better when cold, below 40F
I have had two of the race boxes die also
One I caused myself while washing the motor off before going to the races (early 404B box) and the other one(7C) quit at the MATS race Sunday morning while waiting in line for the first round
If you race long enough and often enough you will break and wear out some parts at the races

I have had great luck with MSD's ..............6's , 7's and assorted gadgets that go with them.
Twice I have had issues that sure seemed to be ignition and weren't , so I like their stuff.
Points had a long and successful run , but technology has sent them to the shelf in the back of the garage unless you are doing a complete restoration.
The pic isn't a slam at you or anyone , but I just enjoy it and chuckle every time I see it.

hi
MSD also makes a rev limiter

4 wire hook up

it is the only msd product i use.

mopar electronic fires my hemi instantly .

also have set up an ran points and some have not been toucthed in 7 years ad still gettig same et at the track .

only reason to use msd is to cover up a poor low speed air fuel mixture .

msd is back to snigle spark by 3000 rpm .

It might run stronger with points if the ignition curve is right/better with that distributor.

I'm with you Mick.

I have 2 cars with points and they both light up instantly if you breathe on the key.

All my others? Well, they all sound like the first 12 seconds of this video:

Well in the land of purple shaft cams, cool cans, super stock springs, and pinion snubbers - you will be The King !!!!

Been running MSD boxes for years, have used or worked on Accel, Petronics, Mallory unilite, Crane, etc. Every system has it's issues and things to look for. For many years I triggered an MSD box with an Accel dual point distributor with one set of points disconnected, worked great. Until I put the engine on a dyno and the RF noise from the points messed with the dyno computer. A points distributor makes plenty of voltage for under 6,000 rpm for most mild performance engines. Over 6,000 rpm an electronic system is a better choice. With a BB mopar and the distributor in the front, I normally don't use a crank trigger, if the distributor is shimmed and air gaped right the timing is rock steady, and stays that way for a long time. One issue with conventional distributors is that the lobes that open the points can wear and while it seems to run fine, if you put that distributor on a scope and overlay the raster pattern you will see that the timing for each cylinder is not the same. And you need a stiff set of points to run higher RPM, which makes the wear problem worse. And since they have not made a lot of point distributors since say 1974, how much wear is on the distributor you have? If you really want to run points find a good technician that still has an ignition scope and have them check your distributor. On MSD I find most issues are with proper voltage supply to the box, poor grounds, pickup coil polarity, and RF interference. I helped a buddy with a MSD grid system with all the bells and whistles, which would at the worst moment fail to start, MSD tech was baffled, and so was I, components were replaced, same issues, turned out to be a solenoid used with the alternator, so you could shut the car off with the safety switch, the solenoid had a voltage drop, SOMETIMES, low voltage to the MSD box so no start. Nothing wrong with MSD engineering, installation in the car was the issue. I would think MSD could do more, like a light that lights up when good voltage is present, they have one that tells you if the pickup is triggering now.

Using a dwell meter with a match book cover fit between alternating point sets to isolate them will allow you to dial in your dwell much better than gaping them.

Point cam lube is unavailable anymore as far as I know, but I have had excellent results substituting synthetic disc brake lube on the cam and point set tab.

I have two videos comparing the spark energy between MSD and the factory dual point set-ups. I'm not sure where they ended up on my PC though. The factory point set-up throws a surprisingly strong spark.

LOL