Cool. It's not new info, but you put it together very neatly and easy to understand.

I'm too damn lazy to do that kind of stuff... or maybe I'm too illiterate... either way...

 

I'd be happy to host it

I'm working on putting together a resource for RX-ers...

Somthing like Manntis' rotorhead.ca, but simpler.

I'd like to host as many how-to's write-ups, faq's, and primers as possible...
I ran straight MSD with stock coils. I wasn't impressed. It was okay, but nothing special. After talking to some of the MSD proponents, looks like you need to used a good coil (like an MSD Blaster2) to get the most of it...

Then I ran straight 2GDFIS. Much better! And cheaper! I'll probably never go with the TT, as I'm looking at a Coil-On-Plug setup with my next build-up...

 

I got the coil for $30 shipped from a guy in the Parts For Sale section. I'm sure you could find one for cheaper or just pull one from a junk yard, but I didnt want to wait or get an old worn out one, I knew this coil was from a relatively-low mileage runnning car.


And there IS a power gain if you ask me. Actually I should go hook up my G-Meter and find out, I forgot about that.

It's defenitely a worthwhile mod for how easy and cheap it is, especially if you've just got a Racing Beat exhaust or other mild mods on your car (Like me). After I hooked my RB exhaust up my car backfired all the time because the stock spark couldnt burn all the fuel, but now all that fuel=power instead of bumper-frying flames. Not that the flames weren't fun and a great party trick...

 

ya, the previous owner put them in, i'm broke as hell right now, and I need new seats and window/hatch seals before i do anything else. thanks for the reply and the info.

 

Ratboy- Thanks for digging up that diagram, saved me the trouble. I started out with the standard 2nd gen ignition upgrade, and the results were great with it. However, when I moved up to the TT version, the gains were ten fold. The TT assures you of a 2ms pulse width at high rpms, and I believe that is where the difference is. It would be nice for comparison to know what an MSD unit produces at high rpms. I honestly can't imagine it getting any better than it is with the TT, but I've never tried MSD before either.

 

Alright well I got out on an open country road today and made a run with my G-Tech horsepower meter. Now the last time I tested it (right after I installed the Racing Beat exhaust and ditched the air pump) I got 97 peak horsepower on two consecutive runs. THIS time with 2GCDFIS installed I got a read-out of 104 peak horses.

You probably wont see this much improvement over just a stock car, but in combination with an exhaust (like mine) it has proved a hell of an investment. Figure $35 spent on the coil and some wire connectors, and a peak improvement of 7hp. It comes out to just $5 per horsepower...

 

Nobody will truly believe the difference in horsepower until they actually experience it. I never would have believed it myself. Glad to hear that its working out for you. Now, if you can find a TT unit around and install that, you will see at least as much gain again. I started out with stock ignition, then went with the 2nd gen for around a year, then upgraded to the Transistor Trick. The Trick really makes a big difference, even over the standard 2nd gen mod.

 

i finally got around to doing this today. idle seems smoother and same with acceleration, even noticed a bit more top-end power (woohoo!).

however i am backfiring more now? i'm guessing my timing needs to be set, but how does that work with the 2nd gen coil?

 

congrats. I didn't have any timing issues with mine but I believe it should be just the same as setting it with the stock coil. The stock ignitors still fire the coil, so it should be the same.

I wonder why you would be backfiring MORE though... Could it just be that the engine is making more heat from burning more fuel now? So the exhaust is hotter and more likely to ignite unburned fuel?

Any gurus please chime in.

 

lol, ok im a idiot. i had it setup running dual trailing instead of leading. doh! your write-up got kind of confusing in some parts since you just mention wires constantely and not that some are the plug wires

well no backfires now and pulls nice! maybe my holley setup will be a little more friendly on its gas consumption with this setup!

why isnt this thread stickied?

 

haha, well its good you got that straightened out. I know it gets confusing, it was written in the wee hours of the morning after I completed the mod, and when my vocabulary was all but lost, sorry about that. Maybe I'll go in and re-write it when I get some time.

and if you thought it idled and ran better with a direct trailing, you'll defenitely be impressed with the direct leading wait till you get it out on the roads and you get a taste of the extra power. Then remember just how cheap and easy it was. Power is great, but cheap do-it-yourself power is the best.

 

I just did this today on my '83, since I had a spare coil laying around

I didn't notice any extra power
hopefully getting a header and exhaust on will fix that! that'll be several weeks though.

a few questions:

why did I have to move the trailing wires to the leading side of the dizzy; and:
do I have to set my timing now?

 

Ummm one question, maybe im just an idiot for not knowing this... In your pictures on the geocities page, you show what wires you have hooked up to your distributor at the end. You still have the leading coil going to the distributor and then to the leading outlets on the distributor. Since you are having direct fire leading through the 2nd gen coil wouldn't you just wire up the trailing coil and the trailing wires from the distributor. (I probally missed something, please clue me in)

Thanks

 

thats what i missed dan, is that i didnt swap the leading plug wires over to the 2nd gen coil. my car was a bitch to start, but it did run like that. once i swapped those over, jesus it starts up awesome now.

usually when my car has sat overnight in the cold, its a bit of a pain to start (waaaay too rich with choke on) but today it started up almost insantely. this mod gets a A+ in my book.

 

I hope I have the same results as you, I have a 2nd gen coil right now, im just waiting for the New transistor trick group buy to pull through. I have only heard of great results from this modification, I can't wait to see how it ends up on my car!

 

I probably didn't make it clear enough, but those are the trailing wires. Comes from the stock trailing coil, to the leading spot on the dizzy, then off the leading spots to the trailing plugs.

I guess you can't see that clearly in any of the pics...
Sorry for the confusion.

Hope it works out for you.

Joe

 

Yes somebody please explain both these things. I've always tried to understand them too. I know with conversion to direct fire you have to advance the timing around 10 degrees, but don't know why, not do I know why you switch to the leading terminal on the dizzy.

 

I left my timing stock and it works fine. Maybe I should adjust it a bit... Who knows?!

 

I left my timing stock and I honestly don't have the answer as to why you must switch to the leading side. But I know at first I left them stock and it sputtered and choked out anywhere above ~2500 rpm. I'd like that question answered too. The timing should remain normal however, so I dont think you need to advance it 10 degrees. Never heard that before...

 

i dont know what happened but i blew a ignitor or the stock coil today, car started up fine, went to pull it out of the driveway and it just stalled and refused to start again. i may have had the 16 gauge signal wire ground out aswell since i was playing around with it for a better connection. i'm not 100% sure.

i heard something about using the 2nd gen coil can cause too much voltage to go back to the FB coil? either way i'll figure it out tommorow and fix er up again. just sucks i dont have any spare ignitors.

 

Perhaps you had the ballast resistor wired up wrong? Or its dead... When I was researching this mod I read about how running the 2nd Gen coil WITHOUT the ballast resistor can burn out the stock first gen ignitor like that. It also seemed to be the consensus that the resistor can be wired in line with either the negative or positive side, so unless you didn't use it at all you should be fine in that area. Maybe it was just that ignitors time... Or maybe it had something to do with you hooking it up wrong at first.

 

I have a 2nd gen coil and want to do this. But if I open it up and cut the wires than I wont be able to use the TT right? So should i just wait until I get the little box gismo thing doo-dad

 

you can remove the resistor box now and just wire it back in later for the TT, just run new wires off it.