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Ignition Upgrade For Jeep 304 & 360 CID V-8 AMC Engines
Main Upgrade Information |
High Performance Upgrade Explanations
Tips, Tricks & Troubleshooting |
1977 and Older Vehicles |
Part Numbers
HIGH PERFORMANCE UPGRADES EXPLANATIONS
The Distributor Cap Base lifts up the distributor cap, and puts more physical distance between the high spark energies and the grounded internals of the distributor. This helps stop spark energies going to ground and causing misfires.
The Taller Rotor serves the same purpose, and keeps spark energy from being lost to the distributor shaft like the GM HEI has a real problem with.
The Wider Distributor Cap physically moves the high voltage terminals apart to help stop crossfire inside the cap. The Wider Distributor Cap also has the much more desirable high-energy 'tower' type terminals.
The Spark Plug Wires are designed to manage the much higher voltages of the high- energy ignition coils, and have much better boot designs at both the distributor cap and at the spark plugs.
The TFI (Thick Film Integrated) Ignition Coil is a high output epoxy filled unit that can be mounted in any orientation, puts out about 2-1/2 times the usable spark energy of the typical 'Can' type coil, and about 1-1/2 times the usable spark energy of the GM HEI in cap coil, with out affecting the ignition trigger, and the current is delivered in a controllable manner.
Change the centrifugal advance springs to some Mr. Gasket P/N 925D Springs, about $4. This will allow the total ignition advance to come in faster. (Faster ignition advance is often the performance 'kick' that switching to a GM Style HEI distributor gives)
The CDI (Capacitive Discharge Ignition) throws about 400 volts at the ignition coil, compared to the puny 12 volts of an Inductive ignition. With a 400-volt supply to the coil the coil saturation time problem is completely overcome, and the MSD module it's self is capable of firing the ignition system reliably at 15,000 RPM and above. With the combination of the MSD module not becoming unstable as an ignition module, and not having a coil saturation problem, the ignition becomes as trouble free as any complex mechanical device can be.