[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Not a huge mallory unilite fan. Even back in the 80's when those were popular and made here in the US they posed problems for people. A lot of friends jumped on that bandwagon back then and quickly got back off.

Personally, on my daily drivers I run points. I trigger MSD boxes with the stock points distributor and it's pretty much hands down the most reliable setup you can put on a car. If the box dies, I just swap wires at the coil and drive away on points, worry about replacing the box when I get home. No issues with rpm either. I have 2 engines on points here that will spin to 7000 no problem with stock 23 ounce accel points.

Honestly though, after running MSD boxes for more than 35 years and still buying them today, I've only had one failure and that one simply didn't work right out of the box, and they swapped it out no problem. I've never had one leave me stranded somewhere. I don't waste time worrying about it.

I agree with this set-up for best reliability. A stock Pontiac distributor, curved properly, with a working vacuum vacuum advance, possibly limited a little based on engine set-up. I do prefer cast iron like mentioned here, but aluminum body is fine also if in good condition. The slight down side to the iron unit is availability of a correct distributor gear. They use the smaller roll pin for retention. So if using a new gear, the shaft will need to be opened up to fit the larger roll pin. I do like using an MSD box for faster starting, keeping plugs cleaner, and just better, sharper driving characteristics at low RPM's, under 3000 RPM's. Above 3000 RPM, an MSD really does nothing. It's a single sharp spark.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I agree with this set-up for best reliability. A stock Pontiac distributor, curved properly, with a working vacuum vacuum advance, possibly limited a little based on engine set-up. I do prefer cast iron like mentioned here, but aluminum body is fine also if in good condition. The slight down side to the iron unit is availability of a correct distributor gear. They use the smaller roll pin for retention. So if using a new gear, the shaft will need to be opened up to fit the larger roll pin. I do like using an MSD box for faster starting, keeping plugs cleaner, and just better, sharper driving characteristics at low RPM's, under 3000 RPM's. Above 3000 RPM, an MSD really does nothing. It's a single sharp spark.

Yes, that last sentence is exactly why I'll use them.

[Formulajones]

I don't have any iron housings for Pontiac but I do have a couple of iron distributors laying around for Chevrolet on the mezzanine, one has been in the Nomad since the early 70's and when I daily drove that car it always worked flawless. In fact it still has the same set of points in it from the 80's when I was driving it, that thing still fires right up on the first lick and purrs. Always thought the little oil tube with a spring lid was a cool feature. They had service in mind when they built those.

I don't really have any issues with the aluminum housings either. Run the original in the Firebird and the original 480 in the 69 Z. I still see them at swap meets all the time, not the expensive numbers type so much but run of the mill points distributors are pretty much still a dime a dozen at swap meets. Saw a handful of them this weekend for $30-$40. People always dump them thinking the newest wiz bang setup is better. Could always pick up a couple of those, if they feel tight, and most of them seem to be, I'd have no issue going through it and running it for a project for myself.

[mgarblik]

Little side note: For those interested in the old iron distributors. At the Norwalk swap meet there were well over 100 of them for sale by many, many vendors. If not looking for a specific one with the DELCO band still on it, there were many good cores for $35.00-$50.00. Take it apart, clean and lubricate everything, check the vacuum advance and you have a good starting point without dealing with poor fitting/non- functioning Chinese crap.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Little side note: For those interested in the old iron distributors. At the Norwalk swap meet there were well over 100 of them for sale by many, many vendors. If not looking for a specific one with the DELCO band still on it, there were many good cores for $35.00-$50.00. Take it apart, clean and lubricate everything, check the vacuum advance and you have a good starting point without dealing with poor fitting/non- functioning Chinese crap.

Yup, just the little swap meet I went to over the weekend I must have seen a half dozen points distributors for $30 or so.