MSD dizzy going in tonight - any hints/tips/things to look out for

red94fiveo

New Member
Apr 12, 2003
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Wichita, KS
My new MSD distributor is going in tonight when I get off work. Anyway, I know its a pretty straightforward install (of course thats what they say about everything). Just wondering if anyone who has put one of these in before ran into any snags or has any tips that I should be aware of. Thanks.

P.S. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this will hopefully finally get my car to run.
 
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Like you said, not much to it.

I was a bit paranoid when I swapped mine. I marked the location of these three things, and it got my timing almost right:

1. direction of the #1 spark plug wire on the cap (keeps current timing)
2. direction of the rotor BEFORE removing the distributor
3. direction of the rotor AFTER removing the distributor
4. after installation, set your timing.

Both #2 and #3 verified to me that the rotor and gear were in about the right place. Technically, you only need to do #3.

And that's it. It takes a bit of wiggling to get the new distributor to slide in, and it took me a few tries to get the rotor pointing the right way. In my case, the rotor wouldn't point exactly in the right direction. I got it as close as possible, and set the timing.
 
when i swapped my MSD all i did was mark the base where the "hash line" on the old dizzy was. i popped the cap, looked at the rotor and put some masking tape on whatever was close by...take a marker and make a line where the center of the rotor is pointing....pulled the old, drop the new in, set the base to your mark, set the rotor to your mark...blam, it lit right off...it was tit...grab a light and re-set the timing...

i didnt even bother with the TDC stuff...no reason to do it if you make good marks where the base/rotor C/L are...Good luck.

Edit...has the motor been run yet?? i thought you was just doing a straight swap, old to new...