Thread: advantage to electronic ignition?

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Hey guys, what is the advantage to electronic ignition? worth it on a 429? I have an MSD blaster coil on it and an Accel distributor which the guys at summit says is magnetic pickup (?) and doesn't need to be changed. they say just a box and new wires and I can switch over. don't know if it is worth the 200 bucks though.

thanks.

Red

the guys at summit says is magnetic pickup (?) and doesn't need to be changed.

Isn't THAT electronic???
Or is there another generation?

the distributor is electornic, but not running electronic box, so I guess it isn't doing the whole big spark at low rpm and multispark at higher rpm. I don't know that much about all of it though so hoping for some more information.

Evidently, SBC and I are confused about the same thing. There are stand alone electronic distributors that need no external box. Are you talking about adding an MSD box for more spark?

Don

I am no expert on electronic systems, but I have been told that if you have a strong spark there may be no need for a box unit like a MSD 6. I have a MSD 6A on my 57 (came that way), MSD coil and a Pertronix Ignitor distributor kit. Every thing works real well together.

On the other hand, on my 34 I have a GM HEI with coil, and no MSD (or other) ignition system. Again all is well. I was thinking about putting a MSD 6A on the 34, but a mechanic friend told me it would be a waste of money because it just was not needed. He said that if I had to have it, go get one, but recommended I spend the money on something else. (probably him )

You already have an 'electronic ignition'. That phrase was originally coined to describe how the pick-up inside the distributor worked, which signified whether the ignition was breakerless (the points being the breaker type) or not.

However, modern ignitions can be even more 'electronic'. There is no real need of a distributor hence the DIS (Distributorless Ignition System). Such systems typically use a crank trigger and the onboard CPU to direct primary sparks to secondary coil packs for each cylinder.

Kitz

It is the accel 52202 and says it is an "electronic breakerless distributor". so if I have an electronic ignition then is there any reason to add an external box? Thanks guys, sorry so ignorant.

Red

Kitz wrote:

However, modern ignitions can be even more 'electronic'. There is no real need of a distributor hence the DIS (Distributorless Ignition System). Such systems typically use a crank trigger and the onboard CPU to direct primary sparks to secondary coil packs for each cylinder.

Had one of those systems on my 2003 Alero. I had no problem with mine, but my neighbor had to replace the one on his Sunbird. He could have purchased about 4 standard HEI distributors for the cost of the replacement DIS. Progress sure can be costly.

Nope, it contains a 6.5 amp module within it.