Also many ignition boxes will retard the timing at higher RPM's and that is the reason for lost power not spark intensity.


Is this common with MSD's or you are talking about your cheaper systems Crane/Mallory boxes never herd before

If you want to add data logging, and you want to eventually add boost. Buy an EFI system and use just the ignition side of it. Data logging like crazy built in, precise ignition control etc. I would do that and run 8 coils.




I know of a guy that has the Holley system in place now and he data logs though it.And he's preparing to go plug on coil setup.

I'll stick w/ my dinosaur 6AL. If I ever "upgrade" again, it'll be to an old 7AL-3, or something similar, just to see if the 7 is worth any power. The only time I've killed an old analog box was when I tried to crank it w/ a nearly dead battery.

All ignition boxes retard. Doesn’t matter what name is on the box. And spark intensity does matter.

FWIW I have three cars with MSD Grids in them, there is also one in the heads up car. We have only had ONE fail in all the years using them and that was from some welding for a front bump steer kit hit the crank trigger pickup wire and fried it. Otherwise they have been trouble free and one of them is on its 7th year in the dragster

It must happen with EFI systems as well. Mine has a "spark latency" setting that can be adjusted to compensate for this problem if you happen to have it.

Also many ignition boxes will retard the timing at higher RPM's and that is the reason for lost power not spark intensity.


Is this common with MSD's or you are talking about your cheaper systems Crane/Mallory boxes never herd before

A whole lot of people don’t know this or check this, or are capable of checking this.
Most modern EFI control boxes address this with a comp table. Usually only happens with mag sensors.

No way I would spend the money on a Digital 7 when there are much better and reliable options out there, and your current ignition is working fine.

Others opinions have merit, but I see no reason to dive in half way.

with this statement but I'm in a position to upgrade my box at a decent price with room for growth ( more options) right now seeing the only thing that's different from my digital 6 is hotter mj 's (130 verse 190) and the data logging etc.

We picked up a little ET retarding the timing 2 degree's from 5000 to 7500RPM, from a 35 degree base, easy to do using a grid.
Theoretically, the older analogue Ignition units should have more of an issue with latency / propagation delay due to the components and the design used. Digital stuff is way quicker in this respect so intrinsically more accurate at maintaining a requested timing curve.
A hotter spark (more energy) helps at the top end as the primary / secondary coil field doesn't have time to drop to zero at high RPM (field collapse, de-saturation of the coil). In effect your spark gets weaker as the change of field is less, especially true if you have only one coil feeding multiple cylinders. it's physics, you can't get away from it, the square type coils suffer from this less than the canister types due to a more efficient design so I'm led to believe.
Just my 2 penneth, not wishing to start an argument here just a reasoned discussion

Never seen anything gained by taking timing out in high gear on an NA car and have tried on a few different cars.

Never seen anything gained by taking timing out in high gear on an NA car and have tried on a few different cars. The one thing I have seen that ALWAYS works is adding timing in lower gears to base in an NA car. It has always netted quicker ET's....


IMO the Grid is much more use friendly than the old 7530, 7531 and 75301 box, but otherwise the results are the same. Just sold my last two digital 7 boxes to fellow members here

Never seen anything gained by taking timing out in high gear on an NA car and have tried on a few different cars. The one thing I have seen that ALWAYS works is adding timing in lower gears to base in an NA car. It has always netted quicker ET's....


IMO the Grid is much more use friendly than the old 7530, 7531 and 75301 box, but otherwise the results are the same. Just sold my last two digital 7 boxes to fellow members here