Ignition boxes

[Clod_King]

MSD, Malory, or Summit or some other ignition box. Where did you put yours. I'm looking to put mine somewhere tucked away and not very visible. Has anyone stuck theirs somewhere in the cabin or possibly the trunk? Are they distance sensitive? I've got a Summit unit coming to me and have installed one before on a Chevy pickup. Lots of room in there but not so many spots under the hood in a TR7... I would prefer it to be incognito, illusive, not visible if you're picking up what I'm putting down. And if you're not I don't want an insurance person to spot it immediately upon popping the hood.

There's no legality issues with modifying a car in Ontario in this fashion but the insurance companies like to ding a person hard for even the simplest of mods. Therefore if it's out of sight it's out of their minds which means more money for me to hide more mods....

[Cobber]

It depends on the unit......but It the ignition module comes with a cable already fitted or made up with terminals in place then you can bet it will be distance sensitive.

[busheytrader]

I thought most ignition upgrades for the 2.0L distributor these days, fit within the distributor and are therefore out of sight.

If there's an external box I'm with Cobber. Keep it stock with no extra wiring connections that could break down due to moisture or corrosion.

[Beans]

Luminition ignition module as fitted to my 8 valve DHC ...



... and a Newtronic ignition module fitted to my Sprint powered FHC (behind clutch master cylinder) ...



But as they both are 20+ years old they might wel not be available anymore

[FI Spyder]

A couple things, you'd want to keep the ignition box as close as possible (at least in the engine bay) keeping in mind the FI slant 4 goes from the distributor on the right hand side to the LH turret with the high tension lead going back over the the RH side again. The longer the wires the greater chance you have for chaffing or electrical leakage on deteriorating wires. most insurances are sensitive to modifications if not for safety reasons then because they may affect the value of the car (either positively or negatively). Just because they may not notice it before hand doesn't mean they won't after an accident when an adjuster is looking over the car. This is particularly important with collector car insurances. Our local car appraiser had some stories when he gave a club talk on getting appraisals done for collector insurance and the importance of notifying the insurance companies of modifications.

[busheytrader]

Luminition ignition module as fitted to my 8 valve DHC ...

I located the Lumenition module on my 16 valve DHC in front of the header tank 26 years ago......... Then again, the V8 wears its distributor at the front.

[dursleyman]

Mine is on the bulkhead, tucked away up in the right side corner.

[darrellw]

Are you talking about a CDI-type box, or just the control box for a more standard electronic ignition?

[Clod_King]

This is what I ordered:
https://m.summitracing.com/parts/sum-850610

I liked what it did to my Chevys' 350 back a few years ago and wanted to try it again. It's a sizable unit and I don't like the way it physically looks.

Also I won't be using classic car insurance. I'll be going with standard regular car insurance. Apparently you can't drive a classic car to work but that's where I want to drive it the most and it's also where I keep it for storage and repair work.

[saabfast]

Using Pertronix with the TR7 there is nothing to see, it is all contained in the distributor. It's not even very obvious in there, the small black sensor just replaces the points and condenser.

[Clod_King]

Maybe I should look into fitting a pertronix unit. I just like the price point of the Summit racing unit and I have already dealt with the product before so I know how it works and how well it works. Does the pertronix unit do the same sort of triple spark thing that the summit unit does?

[Clod_King]

Hmmmmm, I just looked at the pertronix unit and it seems like a better product than the big summit box. I haven't yet received the unit so maybe I can cancel that part of the order... does anyone know the part number that will work with the TR7? I remember looking at those units (or something similar) and didn't know if they were specific to certain applications. It would be amazing if I could get one of these units instead of having this big ugly silver box bolted to the inner fender on my car.

[Clod_King]

9MR-LS2

That's the product number I am seeing in their catalog. If I got this wrong let me know. But I feel like I didn't. Now I gotta see if Summit has this unit and if they will swap out the parts before the order is shipped....

Thanks again guys. Maybe I should check here before buying things online again, hahaha!

[darrellw]

The Pertronix and the Summit box you posted are somewhat different things.

The Pertronix just replaces the points system (or equivalent electronics) in the distributor.

The Summit box still needs to be triggered by the distributor, either Pertronix, points, or whatever.

[Clod_King]

Ha! I quite literally just read up on them and came back to make the same comment!

Summit is going to love me... I just got off the phone with them to do the old switcheroo and now I have to call them back to add that summit box back on there. Ah well, they can't complain about taking my money. I wish the pertronix ignitor III was available for our cars. That would solve all these problems.