Crane 6M took a dump, now what?
 

Been using these for years with no problems, until now. Of course now I can't find one to buy. I've read about all of the problems with MSD, so I'm looking at Mallory HyFire Offroad. Not being super technical, how would I set my advance curve with this unit? I'm using the Merc Thunderbolt distributors.

Are there any other good options?

Steve i havea boat that we are trying to get the crane boxes to work on with the merc dist and so far no luck i hate to highjack your thread but do you know how you have them wired. I have tryed to wire them with no luck and i know they are good. thanks for the help.

Oh yea, I know how I have them wired. I spent 5 hours messing with them yesterday. The thick red goes to constant positive - I have mine attached to the battery terminal on the starter. The small red from the big connector goes to any wire that you can get +12v when you have the key switch on - I think I used the purple wire that originally connected to the old coil. The black goes to ground. The green goes to your tach wire (it's grey on my boat I think). Theres a separate connector where you connect the distributor - it has green and red wires. The orange and black from the big connector go to the coil. I believe that leaves the blue and brown connectors open, as well as the violet and green wires coming out of the big connector.

Don't forget to modify your distributor like they say in the instructions.

http://69.20.53.62/pdf/90006462b.pdf

While I'm on the subject, here's what I did to determine the 6M is bad. If anyone has any other ideas let me know:

1) Engine wasn't firing, so I connected the timing light to the wire going from the coil to the distributor. There's no fire. (Timing light is good - I tested it on the other engine)
2) Checked the wires going from the 6m to the coil. They're OK.
3) Replaced coil. Still no spark.
4) Replaced distributor. Still no spark.
5) The 6M has power and is coming on with the key switch.
6) The only thing left I can think of is the 6M....

I love these boxes. I hope to high heaven a quality outfit picks up the ignition line and continues to produce it.

.

crane is back in business on a limited basis, ign boxes are one thing they are doing, so you should be able to get in touch with them now...they did move to daytona beach...Rob

I may also have a line on a few HI-6Ms I've found (New in box). If anyone is interested let me know?

I just bought 3 and the guy said there were a few left.

Crane 6M gnition
 

I have one Crane 6M box that is in good conditon. I also have two (2) modified rotors for this set up. PM me with a offer.

I have 540 HP modified 502 MPI's with MEFI 1's. During my rebuild/modification, one of the changes I made was to add the MSD 6M boxes. I even used the MSD pre filters to avoid electrical damage to the boxes.
Bottom line- nothing but trouble with the boxes. I finally unhooked them one day while out cruising because the engines where acting up again and I needed to get back to the dock. To my surprise, I did not loose any RPM or speed with the stock ignition and it idles just as clean as with the MSD...when they are working! That was 2 seasons ago. They sure look pretty mounted to the transom but only I know their not even hooked up. No more marine MSD for me.

I run the DUI distributor in mine and have no problems and it runs better than the stock merc IV