Holly vs. MSD ignition
 

I was lied to by the company that built my engine that Holly and MSD are interchangeable in both price and performance for offshore use. Holly turns out to be $100's cheaper and I am under the impression not very good either.

I had to replace the Holly coil with an MSD high vibration coil because the Holly coil shorted out. At the same time I had to replace the Holly ignition because replacing the coil did not work. I now have an MSD 6m ignition and high vibration coil.

Now the rotor on my holly distributor is toast coming from the coil wire. It looks like the same unit as the MSD rotor and the cap looks OK. I am starting to wonder if I should just replace it with a new MSD distributor and what about also getting a new MSD RPM rev control to go with it. New rotor is $25.00, new distributor is $300. Rev limiter is another $100 or so.

Anyone have an opinion? why would my rotor burn up in the center so badly? Would water cause it? Should I be pissed at the engine builder for claiming Holly and MSD were the same price?

Thanks,
Tom

Don't really know about Holley , but you couldn't give me a gold plated MSD. Seen too many of them fail. A friend of mine lost 2 on his dyno and I think its 5 now on his boat. He also has an engine shop and does boat , drag and roundy round motors. You wouldn't believe the ones that come through there.:rolleyes:
Myself...I'd stick with a Merc Thunderbolt.

I ran the Crane system this season with an MSD distributer. Hi-6 box with the Crane coil. I know several guys running this very system with no failures. KAAMA is running the same system. a bit cheaper than the MSD system too. Rev limiter is on the box and you can change the setting in about 30 seconds with a small screwdriver.

If you want an MSD soft touch rev limiter that will work with the Merc system, I've got one laying around and you can have it for $35.

YEa, thunderbolt dist, Crane HI-6M box.

Not a good weekend for MSD and me. Had 2 msd dist caps crack and one rotor came loose. One MSD ignition crap out. This is on a boat that is always in a heated garage and doesn't see big water.

This is my second box that's gone bad in 4 years.

This is in addition to the annual de-rusting I do on the distributors.

I'm looking to change to non-MSD this winter.

Thats all I ever hear is MSD breaking. I run Mallory magnetic breakerless. Not to be confused with the JUNK unilite. NEVER had a problem with them in the last two boats.

Does anyone have anything good to say about MSD? Why do so many people have MSD and even Eikert uses them in his engines? I am stuck with the MSD ignition for now, but what about the distributor? Should I replace the Holly Billet one, just replace the rotor, or buy something else?

Thanks,
Tom

had a mallary photo style distributor nothing but problems.
now i run a msd pro billet w / 6-al. runs flawlessly

I also run a msd pro billet distributor with a 6M box. No problems in 5 years.

mr velocity do you run the msd standard gm msd cap(socket style)

i bought the conversion to the ford cap, eliminated my corrosion problem and works with the better msd wires :D

just once,

tell us more about this conversion.

the gm style cap is the tall one with the female sockets, it also uses the two spring loaded hoods with the philips heads an them that lock under the distributor body. they sell a plastic spacer that scrws onto the pro billet distributor this spacer has the spring metal clips on the side of the low profile ford male connecter cap

I have had an MSD 6M box w/soft touch rev limiter, MSD billet dist and msd coil for 5 years and no problems. The only thing I did was change the magnetic pick-up wheel on the inside of the dist. Everything worked fine, but it was getting a little rusty. Without a second thought, I would buy another MSD system.

rbtnt: go to msdignition.com and find "pro caps" they show you more clearly the conversion.