MSD Ignition boxes. Worth it?

[JTH1972]

Anyone have any experience with these? Are they worth the money?

 

[watkins65]

I dought that they are, but I don't know from experience. Just my .02

 

[JTH1972]

Can I now get a reply from someone who knows what they're talking about?

 

[Gotta_gofast]

A multi-spark discharge ignition only "shines" when introduced to more "violent" combustion chambers. In order for the electrons to jump the gap of a spark plug, they must overcome the resistance created by air and fuel in the combustion chamber. The stock ignition will likely be adequate for stock "conditions". When you increase the compression of your engine or you run forced induction then the pressures in the cylinder increase, and so does the resistance. When this happens, you should upgrade the ignition system.

I have no personal experience with the 2.9L specifically, but I do run an MSD-6AL on my V8 ranger. It is a nice addition but only needed when the rest of the engine is upgraded first. Some might argue that you will get better gas mileage and a little more power out of the multi-spark function. And you will, with a high performance engine. But for a stock or almost-stock 2.9L I really doubt you will notice much. After all, if multi-spark discharge and higher voltage gave stock engines better economy AND more power then Ford would have integraded this into the truck already.

So we could help you out with your goal, what are you looking to get out of the truck with an MSD? (Ex. more power, better mileage, reliability...)

 

[JTH1972]

The big thing I'm after is increased fuel efficiency. I don't expect miracles out of a 20+ year old vehicle, but anything I can do to make it more fuel efficient, the better. We tend to get completely screwed at the gas pumps up here (Remember last summer when the hurricane went through Texas and you gas went up two or three cents a galon, our gas went up 15 cents a litre!), so I'm interested in whatever I can do to make the legs a bt longer on this truck. Ignition is one of the easier places to start in my opinion. I did replace my coil with a MSD one (recommended in the Tech section, and I was going to repalce the coil anyway), and was wondering if the box made that much difference.

The truck is going to be my daily commuter into town for work/school and to go fishing in. I don't plan on hauling anything with it, so hp isn't a big concern.

 

[Gotta_gofast]

I think it was wise to replace your coil with an MSD unit. Maintenance is a biggy when it comes to fuel mileage. If your wires and cap/rotor is old and worn you should replace them. Make sure to change your filters. Any CEL codes should be fixed. Once you have performed a "tune-up" then you should look into synthetic fluids. This will not increase your engines power output, but reduce the amount of drag or parasitic loss in the drivetrain. Run sythetic fluids in your engine, transmission, transfer case, and axles. Make sure you keep your tires inflated to the manufactures specs and all even. Also, if you need an alignment your tires will create resistance making the vehicle less efficient.

 

[JTH1972]

Cap, rotor, plugs, air filter and plug wires - Done

Going to replace both fuel filters, just need the time.

Changed oil recently with just regular, I'l look into synthetic next time. I'm also considering looking into a product called "Envirosave". A buddy of mine put this stuff into his vehicles and he swears by it. He had a junker with Envirosave in it and he purposely tried to kill it and couldn't.

I have fluids and filter for the tranny and transfer case, but not synthetic. I'll probably use this stuff to let it run for a while and flush out the old crap before adding the synthetic. I'm learning that my definition of maintenance is different from other people's idea of maintenance... but that's probably for another thread.

I still have to check codes. I have to find a reader or get my good voltmeter from work (or i should say where my stuff is stored). Also need to check timing, but overall it runs ok.