Not Ranked
Well, I think I found my problem, and I will implement the fix this weekend, but before I disclose it, just a couple of points, and let me preface all of this by saying I like the theory of MSD and experienced great performance with it while it was working, so all MSD fans out there please don't get defensive and respond with stories of 100k miles without a glitch, I am sure there are many out there that have had 1000s of trouble free miles with their MSD systems.
I have a dear friend who has been building race cars for 30 years. He was out of contact until now but he said that for street use, I shouldn't waste my money on an MSD system, he said if I want electronic ignition go to a Ford HEI set up. He strongly reccommends a dual point system, namely because when the MSD "****s out" you need a tow truck, and with points, he can always get it going on the side of the road. He said the blaster coils do NOT like heat and street use produces A LOT of heat. He said that they used to use the MSD 8AL (didn't know they made that unit) and they would stock the car with 5 units because they have lost races in the final lap on account of a box blowing out. What many of the advocates of MSD on this board need to consider is how frequently they drive their cobras. If you drive it 200 miles per year, and there are many that do less, you really cannot speak to the reliability of the system. My friend said that at the end of each racing season, all the MSD boxes went back to Texas good or bad for an overhaul. (that makes sense now that the MSD tech said the turnaround time is 10 - 15 working days because it is race season). Voltage spikes are common and the fact that the control box doesn't have a capacitor built in is just frustrating, SO buy the MSD PN 8830 capacitor (they call it a noise filter). Also the fact that they don't put fueable links on the circuits that most frequently go bad, is a little crazy. The way he described it to me is that the battery is capabable of producing 13.9 volts, the MSD box likes something like 10-12, and when you have an electric fan switching on and then off, there is a surge on top. The capacitor will hopefully help a lot and I also need to find a better swithed power source. A sincere thanks goes to Rick Parker on this board who helped me figure that out early on and that hopefully will be responsible for the majority of the problem.
If I have misstated some of the details of his account, I apologize, but the crux of what he says is gospal in my book and any error is my own ignorance in retelling his logic.
The upshot of all this is that MSD stands behind their product 100%, but guess what, I don't really care about that when I am sitting with a dead cobra for 3 weeks waiting for the safe return of another box, especially after I had to get a tow back home from the last time it crapped out! Thanks to all the thoughtful postings from people, I genuinely appreciate this board, if my story suggests solutions to others, then I hope I can help others as they have clearly helped me!
frankym
also, try the rubber shock mounts and make sure that the thin red gets a good source of switched power. The capacitor get hooked in line with the thick red power wire and I am also putting a fueable link in line between the capacitor and the box, just thought might provide another layer of insurance, but probably won't deter a spike as it likely is a surge of only 5 volts that is blowing out the resistors.
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