Msd and solid core wires

[Guest torynich]

All right, I finally got an MSD for my early 74 260 and installed it with no serious problems, but I noticed that the box says "do not use this device with solid core wires". Then I noticed that my plug wires (installed on the car when I bought it so please excuse my ignorance) are MSD helicore solid suppression wires (ultra temp). Are these the wires they are saying not to use? Also, Salman says to use magnetic suppression not resistive with an MSD. How do I figgure out which brands are which? One last question. I am trying to do the tach hookup like I have read and it doesn't seem to be working. I ran a new wire (16 awg) from the tach output on the MSD to the tach which I have out of the car right now. I shorted the large resistor inside and hooked up (for testing purposes) a pos and neg straight from the battery and the tach doesnt even flicker. What am I doing wrong? The tach input is the single male output on the back of the tach right?

 

Anyway, I hope someone has an answer, I hate driving without a tach.

thanks, Tory

[Mike C]

Solid core wires are just that. A stranded solid wire conductor. Suppression core wires are a fiberglass core that is coated with graphite to provide a conductance path for the spark, but they have very high resistance. The spiral core wire is the correct wire to use. In has the RF suppression capability of the suppression core wires but the low resistance of the solid core wire. It is basically a suppression core with a single conductor wound radially through the wire. This keeps resistance down and minimizes the magnetic field created when current flows through the conductor.

[Guest Anonymous]

Originally posted by torynich:

All right, I finally got an MSD for my early 74 260 and installed it with no serious problems, <snip>

One last question. I am trying to do the tach hookup like I have read and it doesn't seem to be working. I ran a new wire (16 awg) from the tach output on the MSD to the tach which I have out of the car right now. I shorted the large resistor inside and hooked up (for testing purposes) a pos and neg straight from the battery and the tach doesnt even flicker. What am I doing wrong? The tach input is the single male output on the back of the tach right?

Anyway, I hope someone has an answer, I hate driving without a tach.

thanks, Tory

Tory, I did the same MSD on my early 260Z that was hacked by the PO to resemble a single-pt 72 dizzy. I found that the $20.00 or less for the MSD "Tach Adapter" was money well spent - immediately got my tach back, no probs since. Spend a little to save your sanity.

[Guest Carlissimo]

Tory,

Try e-mailing MSD from their web site. They suggested a resistor for me that works. I don't remember the part number. It was only a few bucks at Autozone.