MSD 6A installation

[gavin]

(Im working my way ever so closer and closer to the engine so watch out)


BEHOLD!! toys



MSD 6A ignition module p/n 6200
MSD tach adaptor p/n 8910 (necessary for our vehicles ignition systems)
MSD Blaster2 coil p/n 8202
First of all, Thank you Dutch626 for the trade . Dutch sent these items to me in response to me sending him a set of Legacy calipers, 2nd gen master cylinder, hard lines(and whatever else I sent to him at the time).

http://626forum.de/viewtopic.php?p=26261#26261

Cool deal from a great guy.

Electronics can be confounding but this is a rather straightforward project to do. First, read the instructions, then read them again and after that ...well, you get the picture.

Wiring will consist of:

- Large Black/Red wires: Red= positive battery terminal, Black= negative battery terminal or solid ground
- Orange/black trigger wires: Directly to coil. Orange= positive coil terminal, Black= negative coil terminal
- Red/white signal wires: from MSD unit to the corresponding red/white Tach Adaptor "Y" harness. The unconnected red/white wires from the tach adaptor "Y" harness will go to the wires that were origninally on the stock coil. Red= positive, white= negative.
- magnetic pickup connector is not used.

For cars that have the "e-coil", the red/white wires will connect to the plug of the e-coil. The wires whould be black/white stripe= positive, solid blue= negative. (so red>black/white stripe, white>solid blue)

For cars with canister coils you will have the same black/white stripe and solid blue wire that will attatch to the red and white wire as above. There should be two other wires a yellow/blue and a white/red wire. These will be transferred to the replacement coil in the same way as they were on the stock coil.

Visual aids:

http://www.msdignition.com/pdf/pdf24.pdf
http://home.planet.nl/~dekk1379/MSD6A.JPG


Now...where to mount? Popular areas are in the engine bay, either on the firewall or, if your battery is rearranged/relocated, in the area reserved for the battery. Another place to mount is in the cabin of the car(passenger footwell)

I had thought of mounting the unit in the passenger footwell to have the unit out of the heat of the engine bay but the practicality of wiring the unit close to the coil and power wires was simply too convenient. In my case I already had the battery relocated and a marine switch(for on/off) attatched to the power cable to tap into. It was also a fairly cool area of the engine bay.



It looks a bit rough(the last incident with a deer) but that rail has quite a bit of space to mount both the MSD box and tach adaptor. The MSD will be off to the side under the switch and the tach adaptor will be inside and under the frame rail itself. Its difficult at this angle but there is a recess under that rail and a little flange that can be used to mount the tach adaptor.

Now....I could have just wired everything up right here.....but thats too easy. (A) I didnt like the long wires that were included and (B) I didnt like the idea that if I installed everything it would be a hassle to get to again if I needed to remove the unit since the wiring is all attatched. So I rewired it.

By the way this is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL and is not necessary for the installation process. If you arent comfortable with attacking your prized possetion with dykes and a 900deg soldering iron, its ok, you can skip all of this.




The black/orange trigger wires are encased in a long protective sheath. There seemed to be plenty of room in there for two more wires so while rewiring I inserted the white/red signal wires and created a mini-wiring harness between the MSD box and the coil.

The wires for the tach adaptor were shortened

Since the tach adaptor was going to be mounted closely to the MSD box the long white/red signal wires on the MSD were cut, shortened and red male adaptors (included in the kit) were added to accept the red output leads of the tach adaptor cloder to the MSD unit.

Orange/black trigger wires were shortened and connectors added

The main power wires were shortened to the appropriate length needed and low resistance connectors were added(bonus points to anyone who recognize the connectors) The power leads are under the tach adaptor.

Finished wiring



I used a combination of male/female blade connectors, 3 pin connectors and low resistance connectors(on the power leads)

The coil is all wired up and ready to go. I used a standard canister mount from an older 626 and mounted a modified housing that contains the ignitor, ballast and assorted plugs. The entire unit can be removed as a whole leaving the wiring still in the car. The yellow thing is a thumb from a latex glove used as a boot for the original plug that went to the e-coil. A bit of weather protection.

Oh right...a mounting surface might be a good idea for the MSD if I plan to hang it off the side of the rail.

This is what I came up with.


some spare plactic sheeting that I had cut to length, drilled and the tab was made by applying heat and bending it to 90deg.

Done




coil, MSD and tach adaptor(peeking out under the MSD) mounted and doing nicely. and if it is necessary one day to diconnect the unit for whatever reason..



one screw, 3 connections and its out.

I have yet to put it through its paces but the first thing that was noticable was the improved starts. The engine fires much quicker than before. One day ill see what happens on a dyno (esp since I have the ability to quickly disconnect the MSD and go to the stock system)

PS: heres a helpful hint...try to install the unit in the daytime hours. Trying to connect wiring at night by the feeble glow of a mag-lite is a sure way to cross up connections.....er....not that I would know anything about this

Comments (Comments on: MSD 6A installation) critiques....alll welcome

Gavin