Made my own ignition! No more misfires!
12-13-2005, 07:35 PM
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Made my own ignition! No more misfires! Well after messing with everything in the ignition system on and off for months since my cam swap last summer I decided F*ck this **** and thought what sort of ignition surely works good, the LS1 ignition kits sound nice, but too expensive and it might not fix anything
Well my dad has a 7 second dragster with an MSD 7 AL3, "flying magnet"
crank trigger, MSD coil and locked out distributor .. hmmm could this be put on an LT1? I was sure you could..but what about if you want to keep the factory PCM to avoid spending a fortune? the "experts" all said you need an Aftermarket ECU I tried it anyway and Bam... no more fouled plugs in 1 minute... no more black smoke... no more gas smell... and no more misfiring..
If anyone is interested ill post pics,
but here is how I did it (MSD should start making this as a bolt on kit for an end all to LT1 ignition issues)
Using the MSD flying magnet kit for a Big Block Chevy with an 8" ballancer I removed the the ballancer bolts and intalled 3" 3/8 16 thread allen bolts with the heads ground to clear the opti's cap.. 3 grade 8 nuts are then installed with flat washers to hold the ballancer to the hub.. After that, the blipper wheel is slid over the new studs. and locknutted down.
Next the Trigger mount was installed on the passenger side of the motor utilizing pre existing mounting holes in the block, however for the top bolt hole on the mount is WAY away from the one on the block, using the long intake to alternator strut bracket, I bent it into the shape I needed, and cut it in half and welded a 1" steel rod in the middle to extend it, on the bottom hole a piece of aluminum round stock 3" long or so with a hole in the middle was used as a spacer and bolted between the mount and a 2" threaded aluminum plate that I used to relocate the hole in the block to where I needed it. next, turn the engine to top dead center and Mark your red MSD blipper wheel at 12' O clock, finally pick whatever magnet is closest to the trigger, and using a 8" degree wheel scribe timing marks into the wheel, 20....25....30....35....40 starting at the magnet, headed clockwise... to set the timing simply slide the trigger pickup to the mark you want, (while motor is at top dead center) and tighten the trigger pickup
that's it the hard parts over, now, I mounted the MSD 7AL3 box in the unused air filter compartment and wired it accordingly 2 wires for the trigger pickup, 2 to the coil, two to the battery, and one to a hot "ignition on" wire, you can find lots of these in the fuse box using a volt meter.
mount and wire your coil wherever you please, and connect to the opti and disconnect the factory coil, and ignition module, but be sure to leave any ground wires bolted to the head connected, or the car wont start. Well, thats it. crank her up and enjoy a powerfull ultra reliable ignition..
The beauty of this is you can set your timing the good old fasioned way with a light from now on... and the only part of the opti it uses? the cap and rotor...and lots of X factors have been eliminated... computer controll, factory coil, ignition module, and miles of rats nest most likely by now deteriorated factory wiring
if anyone has interest I can post pictures.
Well my dad has a 7 second dragster with an MSD 7 AL3, "flying magnet"
crank trigger, MSD coil and locked out distributor .. hmmm could this be put on an LT1? I was sure you could..but what about if you want to keep the factory PCM to avoid spending a fortune? the "experts" all said you need an Aftermarket ECU I tried it anyway and Bam... no more fouled plugs in 1 minute... no more black smoke... no more gas smell... and no more misfiring..
If anyone is interested ill post pics,
but here is how I did it (MSD should start making this as a bolt on kit for an end all to LT1 ignition issues)Using the MSD flying magnet kit for a Big Block Chevy with an 8" ballancer I removed the the ballancer bolts and intalled 3" 3/8 16 thread allen bolts with the heads ground to clear the opti's cap.. 3 grade 8 nuts are then installed with flat washers to hold the ballancer to the hub.. After that, the blipper wheel is slid over the new studs. and locknutted down.
Next the Trigger mount was installed on the passenger side of the motor utilizing pre existing mounting holes in the block, however for the top bolt hole on the mount is WAY away from the one on the block, using the long intake to alternator strut bracket, I bent it into the shape I needed, and cut it in half and welded a 1" steel rod in the middle to extend it, on the bottom hole a piece of aluminum round stock 3" long or so with a hole in the middle was used as a spacer and bolted between the mount and a 2" threaded aluminum plate that I used to relocate the hole in the block to where I needed it. next, turn the engine to top dead center and Mark your red MSD blipper wheel at 12' O clock, finally pick whatever magnet is closest to the trigger, and using a 8" degree wheel scribe timing marks into the wheel, 20....25....30....35....40 starting at the magnet, headed clockwise... to set the timing simply slide the trigger pickup to the mark you want, (while motor is at top dead center) and tighten the trigger pickup
that's it the hard parts over, now, I mounted the MSD 7AL3 box in the unused air filter compartment and wired it accordingly 2 wires for the trigger pickup, 2 to the coil, two to the battery, and one to a hot "ignition on" wire, you can find lots of these in the fuse box using a volt meter.
mount and wire your coil wherever you please, and connect to the opti and disconnect the factory coil, and ignition module, but be sure to leave any ground wires bolted to the head connected, or the car wont start. Well, thats it. crank her up and enjoy a powerfull ultra reliable ignition..
The beauty of this is you can set your timing the good old fasioned way with a light from now on... and the only part of the opti it uses? the cap and rotor...and lots of X factors have been eliminated... computer controll, factory coil, ignition module, and miles of rats nest most likely by now deteriorated factory wiring
if anyone has interest I can post pictures.
. Althought I think he's running a FAST system. 
Does anyone know where I can get those polished covers for the A/C, Idler pulley and power steering pump ? 
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12-13-2005, 08:50 PM
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Im a pretty bad photographer, especially since I cant find my card reader so had to use my phone but you should get the idea
My sexy toys
Im in south houston right now, near clear lake, im going to the track friday to FINALLY find out what this new cam, new valvetrain, new electric H20, and 58MM TB is worth.. 11.74 @ 112 is previous best with the puny LT4 hotcam
If she does finally run right, im going to install my 4,500 stall dynamic (2800ish stall in it now) and maybe use the gigglely juice to hit my long awaited 9 second goal.
My sexy toys
Im in south houston right now, near clear lake, im going to the track friday to FINALLY find out what this new cam, new valvetrain, new electric H20, and 58MM TB is worth.. 11.74 @ 112 is previous best with the puny LT4 hotcam
If she does finally run right, im going to install my 4,500 stall dynamic (2800ish stall in it now) and maybe use the gigglely juice to hit my long awaited 9 second goal.
Last edited by z28boysteve; 12-13-2005 at 08:56 PM.
12-13-2005, 08:52 PM
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well i didn't read all that junk because i'm sure i'll see the car soon. so misfire is completely fixed?? u gonna take it out tomorrow if it's not raining?? i think it's like 60% chance tomorrow.
i'm hoping to start mine up tomorrow. a few friends will be here in a little over an hour and we're gonna work on it tonight and tomorrow.
i'm hoping to start mine up tomorrow. a few friends will be here in a little over an hour and we're gonna work on it tonight and tomorrow.