Electronic Ignition

Anyone switch over to Electronic Ignition on their 318cid. Been hammering away on upgrades, my A108 is at our local muffler shop getting side pipes and headers, and when it gets back putting a Edlebrock 500 cfm Carb and intake on her. Then doing a brake job, and Ill be done for a bit till i get teh ole' Credit Card paid off. . . ;-) I see that teh electronic ignition systems are pretty reasonable (under 100.00) for the 318

We all have budgets, sometimes cheaper is not not better. I have swapped a few small blocks over from points. Mopar performance's electronic ignition is now made in china, I have been recomended to stay away and use one from MSD . My next build will have the MSD. With my electronic ign upgrade I always swap out the stock timing chain. I use Cloyes double roller. There is a points upgrade kit that uses the points dist. Petronics not sure of the spelling. I have used those in the past and they work well too. There under 100.00 and a 13 year old could do it.
Good luck and enjoy that 108!

I believe in Pertronics- as for msd?? long ago - they had  tons of stuff going bad!! as its all made in mexico!! =Cheap labor!! Thinking they make  some in the usa -yet still @ border location & done by cross over mexican labor!!   After all=Advertising is everything!

Hays ignition back in the mid 60's came out with a "Pertronix type replacement for points - i installed one in my 67 vette then - still going strong too thats like 40 years of service too-it is a mag type pickup! I believe hats ignition sold that to =pertronix!!

An electronic distributor is a nice upgrade for any van.  For Chrysler, you have several options.  One option I think is interesting is speedmaster/procomp sells a GM HEI type distributor for small block mopar.  They have these in both coil-in-cap version, or versions that use a remote coil.  I am running a remote coil version of the procomp distributor on my '68 Camaro.  Yes, they are made in China.  I'm not overly concerned about that, but some people are.  The rest of the igintion system is also procomp, coil, and wires.  It works great!

On my father's '79 dodge van, we used all factory Mopar electronic ignition on the high perf 360 he built, with an accel supercoil and wires.  It always performed flawlessly.  

MSD has always been high quality.  Their customer service department is excellent, should you have problems with any parts.  I once had a 6al box fail.  I sent it back to them and they repaired it for free.  I ran a MSD billet distributor, blaster II coil and the 6al box on a 350 in my '72 Chevelle.  After the repair of the 6al box, the system ran great and performed well.

Pertronix is a good option too.  We have a pertonix on my grandfather's 1966 F250 with a 390 engine.  The pertronix module replaces the points in the original distributor.  We wired it in with a MSD 6a box, to get that capacitive discharge for a nice hot ignition, and works great!

I also have a made in china 'skip white' HEI distributor in the wikivan. It was about $60 on ebay and works great!

I've had made in US stuff fail, and made in China stuff fail. I've had good luck with made in US stuff, and had good luck with made in China stuff too.

Wow, lots to digest there, but it looks like MSD may be the route i go. i would love to by USA, but sheesh, not a lot out there anymore that's made in the USA. But i bet when the US raises the minimum wage to 15/hr, so many business will come back to USA manufacturing. . .NOT !!!

Thank you all, i may need to sit on this for a bit. i've dropped $2000 on my van in 3 weeks and the spousal unit is not very happy. . . ;-)

Do you have room for a GM style HEI? They work great and only $57. My pal Adam just bought one for his ford 302

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mopar-Chrysler-SB-318-340-360-65K-Coil-HEI-Electronic-Distributor-Red-Cap-/171429026576?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27e9f75b10&vxp=mtr

I went with the MSD Ignition actually. I am eagerally awaiting some more parts and then i am gonna throw the new and imporved 318 back in the belly of the beast.

Now that looks nice!

does the streetrod headers clear the starter?? or did you change over to a gear reduction starter ??
that will be me next winter project,

They cleared the starter, it was close but they cleared.

winterwolf227 wrote:I went with the MSD Ignition actually.  I am eagerally awaiting some more parts and then i am gonna throw the new and imporved 318 back in the belly of the beast.

That looks awfully Perrrrty, Winterwolf!!!

Lookin' Good!!!