DeTomaso Mailing List: April 98, Message #256

*******This is an Italian thing so delete now if your not
Italian***********************
MAMA MIA CHRISTO!!!! :-]
    Let me speak to my brother in our native tongue for a moment. Please
endulge us for a moment. . .

Pisano, wotza matta macaroni ana pasta maka youa toa crazeoni HUH????!
Fettachini, spamoni ana ferrari HEH-HEH!!!
My Italian Brother, I didn't say the MSD ignition is better or that your
ignition isn't good enough. I said it sucked! <GRIN>
Perhaps something got lost in the enGlisH translation through Shane & andy's
web server. . .I'll speak LOUDER - then you'll understand O-K-A-Y! :-]

Seriously, after we re-built my engine I had the same problem with detonation
(pinging) on hard acceleration with pump gas and it got even worse when it was
hot. Unless I used race gas (103-108 Octane) or retarded the timing 4-6 degrees
I still had the problem.  I already had the MSD ignition box, distributor,
coil, etc.
What we ADDED was a MSD on-board adjustable timing control unit, allowing the
driver to advance or retard the timing from inside the car.

You may have other problems with your engine and as Mary suggested you may not
have enough cam for the compression in the engine. do you know what it is (or
is suppossed to be??). . . Sorry if I gave you the impression you need MSD
because you don't. You DON'T need MSD or even the adjustable timing control
unit. . . I only wanted to relate that in my experience retarding the timing
solved the problem (on my car anyway!).
DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW?  :-]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Good Luck Christo. :-]
MD
Jack, Ted, Mary - care to address Christo's questions???

Cristiano Rossi wrote:

> The third opinion (came from mAD dOG) is that the problem is not that the
> octane is too low, but that the ignition system is not good enough. With an
> MSD ignition (all the components), there will not be pinging problems even
> with a 377 stroker engine with 10.6:1 compression.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1) A spark is a spark, and if the standard system is in perfect condition,
> why is the MSD system better - what can it do better than the standard
> double points system?
>
> 2) What does the complete MSD system consist of? I guess it must be the
> complete distributor plus the ignition coil, is this correct?
>
> 3) I guess that there must be different MSD systems, made for different
> applications (standard, high performance etc.). If this is correct, which
> system is it advised to use?
>
> 4) How much does it cost?
>
> Thank you again,
>
> Cristiano Rossi
> thpnma 02869