Decent Ignition Modules

I just had another ECU for the Chrysler Electronic Ignition die on me. I have had some last a while, others just a few weeks or months. I know the Orange boxes were famous for being short lived, but I have had aftermarket replacements do no better really. I make sure all properly grounded to vehicle. I have 5 cars that all run this electronic conversion. I hate to think of ditching all of these systems for something else. Does anyone make these units that could be considered reliable?

I've been using the Standard LX101 box in one of the cars for a couple years, been fine.
The other car still has its orange box (MP conversion) from long ago.
Only failure I've had was one that the potting material melted out of maybe 25 years ago, but I'd hidden it in a washer jar so that probably didn't help.

I tried two different "Carquest Premium Ignition Modules" from two different stores this weekend, and neither one would make a spark out of the box.

I have had good luck with the Wells WVE 6H1062 sells for about $32, and has a (3) year warranty.
My experience with the later Mopar Orange modules has not been good, but I still am running an older chrome Mopar module.
In later years, most of these aftermarket modules are sourced from China and many are junk..
But always good to carry a spare in the glove box..

Just my $0.02....

I stopped using the Mopar style garbage years ago.

Now I plug in the MSD 6AL (older analog, new digital MSD stuff is garbage as well) plugged into a recurved stock distributor. It has the advantages of a rev-limiter and you can plug stuff into it like 2 steps and a timing controller to retard timing with a dial.

The car always starts instantly.

The Standard LX101 ignition box has a good reputation.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/parts/standard+motor+products,LX101,ignition+control+module+(icm),7172

Rick Ehrenberg from Mopar Action magazine sells the HR7500 ignition module. You can buy it from his Ebay store.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225109916079?hash=item346998b9af:g:ZDMAAOSwtANelMZm

Don Gould at FBO sells the HRR688 ignition system. It's a Chrysler style ignition box and Pertronix 40011 ignition coil (you must use the Pertronix coil with the HRR688 ignition box)..

https://4secondsflat.com/Ignition.html

If you don't want to run a Chrysler ignition box - Pertronix sells an electronic ignition conversion kit for Chrysler distributors.

https://pertronixbrands.com/

Additional reading:

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...or-direct-replacemnt-hot-street-car.html

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/hyrev-7500-ecu-box.421044/

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/ams/how-to-tell-a-fake-ecu-from-a-real-one.315/

https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/which-electronic-ignition.248030/

I stated this within the HIRev 7500 thread
About the Chinese junk out there


Anyways

Scour Swap Meets and EBay , you can still find NOS Chrysler ECUs and mid 70s / mid 80s Standard LX 101s when Standard Motor Products made them in the USA

The Standard LX101 ignition box has worked well with no failures for me.

. I am using the HR7500 on my Challenger and it has done well for over two years now. I was careful to use the coil they recommend. You can buy the HR7500 from JEGS. On my Charger I am using the FBO box and REALLY like it. Only been a couple of months but I am impressed. Again, I used their recommended coil and by-passed the ballast, and am using a Voltage Regulator with modern internals. For the FBO I bypassed the ballast by taking out the resistor from the back and substituting an 8 gage wire, using the same connectors, then I potted the back…so looks stock.

i have a chrome box on the shelf i took out of my 38 plymouth coupe when i sold it back in 1986 or so, minus the 360/727 combo [E58 cop engine/transmission]
it worked fantastic for over 10k miles in my coupe, but sitting on the shelf in a semi-upright position, the potting material started to melt out of it.
has anyone re-potted these control boxes ? if so, what material did you use ?
would filling the back side with high temperature silicon adhesive work for this purpose ?

I still have an orange box I bought back in 1992 with the conversion kit they sold. Its been in at least 6 different cars over the years and still going strong. Its the new ones that have the high failure rate. They use a TO-220 transistor instead of the HD TO-3. They have a dummy TO-3 mounted on them to deceive you. The TO-220 package handles much less current and im sure its the cause of all these failures.

I've seen orange boxes listed for over $100 recently so I guess the crappy new boxes are helping someone out.

Some of those threads that Wheeler posted touch on this very subject
Easy to spot

Thats why i stated stick with the Factory ECUs with Chrysler Part #s stamped on them or Made In The USA Standard LX 101s

Problem is no one makes the power transistor these boxes used to use, so they got redesigned to use something still being made, poorly redesigned that is.

I did some research into this a while back, there is (was?) a similar power transistor that could have been used, but it was more expensive. IIRC and it was a couple of years ago when I did the research, that transistor was something like $30 each from Mouser.

Do you know what the part number was for the replacement? I have connections for obsolete components and may be able to find them

Sorry, no I have forgotten what it was and since I don't run them in any of my rides the matter wasn't all that important to me.

All I can say is that the original transistor was a Motorola MJ10012.

That Motorola part # is all over EBay listings



RCA was original on many Factory part #s also

Interesting, I am now seeing them listed on Mouser, 160 qty minimum order though.

They aren't Motorola Brand though, MJ10012 is a industry part number, sort of light light bulb numbers.

As far as the Ebay listings, wonder where they came from? Someone clearing out old stock?

When companies close or clean out their inventory electronic scrap dealers come in buy it and then resell. A very common practice i worked for one company that went from over 100,000 sq. ft. to 30,000. They literally threw hundreds of thousands $$ in dumpsters and had the hauled away. didn't even attempt to sell any of it. There were signs all over the company, "IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT"

Well I went back and looked at the date codes, 29th week of 1994, definitely old stock or a chinese ripoff ala MSD.

I do have several of the modules from the 70's to early 80's that are chrome with different colored heat sinks but have never tested them. I've often wondered if they're were worth anything or just trash them ?

That power transistor is very generic..
Its is an NPN Darlington 400V 10A transistor in a TO3 case, and used in multiple, wide applications including power supplies an audio amplifiers. This part in large quantities of >5K would cost about $2.25
I would surmise certain cheaper Chinese produced ignition modules used a lower voltage/current device, they would work in a lower temperature(<60 degrees C), but would self-destruct if driven hard and heating up..
When the transistor case heats up significantly. its ability to conduct can/will decrease by up to 60%..
Causing it to have secondary breakdown and shorting out...

Note that we have been sourcing audio products and components from the Orient for 25 years, so we have some experience here..
And a few years back I was quoted the Mopar ignition module for $4.25 in lots of 250 pieces, which obviously used a cheaper, lower voltage/current transistor..

Just my $0.02...

Any part #s stamped on them ?

Let me know

Thanx Scott

I'll have to check tomorrow

Its amazing how times have changed. In the 70s and 80s aftermarket equivalent parts were most times better than OEM. Blue Streak made fantastic quality electronic parts. Now we wish we had parts made to OEM standards from 4 decades ago.

It's our money grubbing executives IMO

I gave up on all Mopar style ignition systems about 30 years ago when I started racing my car and needed a reliable box with a rev limiter. Whenever I go to a swap meet I pick up an old 6AL every chance I get. Funny part is I'm still running the same one I installed 30 years ago and now I have a few spares on the shelf.

Gus

i've gotten a couple 6AL boxes over the years for $5.00 each.
they have some real hoakey wiring attached, so i really don't know if they are any good.
i bought them primarily to see what is inside.
one of these days, i have to hook them up to see if they are good or not, using the test procedure i printed off the MSD site.

This may or may not be of help. Installed one on my Charger this summer. So far so good.

https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15779

That's an interesting article & diagram.
I can vouch for the late-model epoxy coils; I've used the '90 F150 coil on a few cars and they all lit off more quickly and ran great.
That setup involved an MP distributor, MSD6A, bridged ballast, and 8.0 - 8.8 plug wires.
A couple ran 18 degrees initial due to big cams.
They didn't have to look stock, just had to reliably haul butt.

It was a neat project I'd not considered before

Engine masters did show about a few ignition boxes, I believe it was a vintage orange, Chrome and a new one that bough at the local parts store. One was bad the other was good up to about 5 1/2 grand then it failed and the new one worked the best. After that they ran the MSD6a with the best results. I would agree that the 6A is the best option if you are looking for performance. I did this conversion and love it. I would get a new unit because the older ones had components in them that heated up and failed.

In my RoadRunner I did run a couple of different ignition modules, 1 was an MSD 6 that had the Chrysler 4 pin connector the other was a Mopar chrome box.
I ran and compared both to 1 another, I preferred the chrome box over the MSD my built wedge motor started easier.
Regarding overall response and power both seemed about equal..

Just my $0.02...

Don't forget what MSD stands for, Multiple spark discharge. If you ever bench tested one of them you can actually see the multiple sparks in the gap. It happens so fast you really cant see it happening but you can see multiple sparks across the gas as apposed to stock where you get one. And not to mention more spark power. I tested it with a accell super coil and if you increase the gap it will spark to the negative terminal on the coil.

These have turned into the metal version of the ballast resistor! Butt I believe that the BR's last longer!!

You could try the GM HEI conversion.

i have been contemplating the HEI conversion, bolting it on the underside of the original distributor.
i thought about hiding it in a gutted control box, but thought it might get too warm in there ? any thoughts about this ?
the next thought, who is a good manufacturer of quality HEI modules ?

http://www.designed2drive.com/ ?

Dunno who makes a good HEI module, but Pertronix makes a multi-strike module.

Sorry for the delayed response

2 are Chrome with large aluminum heat sinks anodized red. They are 5 Pinners
transistor #'s
SII 6205 A
01281
7506
And 5 C 5 ink stamped on the back

the other is a Carquest 4 pin with a smaller gold heatsink
Motorola transistor#
793266
9108 0r 8016

Interesting thread on this very issue

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=d9jfs19g94psimdnv3dvd8jb94&topic=92253.0

If you could find NOS GM that's the best. Get one from a known working HEI. I have also had good luck with MSD.