No spark in 71 Vette

[Stomis]

My dad pulled his 71 vette out of the driveway for the first time in a couple months and it went pop and died. Its getting plenty of fuel and 0 spark. We were having trouble with the MSD 6AL box so I disconnected it. We're thinking it was the source of loss of spark but now I'm having trouble getting the thing wired back up.

I called a mechanic friend and he said that you cant just pull any ignition and ground for the coil. Where am I suppose to pull them from? Do they need to come right off the starter solenoid?

Also the aftermarket MSD distributor has the magnetic output plugs coming off the bottom of it that were going into the MSD box. Is there something they need to be hooked up to or do I just leave them disconnected while not using an MSD ignition box?

 

[Stomis]

Hmmm sounds like that friggin distributor on the car is made to be used with an MSD box... wtf...

 

[dyeager535]

Not sure how this plays with the MSD, but points didn't use 12V, so that's probably why your under the impression you can't pull power from anywhere. The wire was what cut the voltage down.

Points is one thing that even on a vintage vehicle has to go IMO, especially when it's as easy as it is on a GM vehicle. For a 'vette I'd probably tuck the wire away instead of cutting it, but I'd still ditch the points unless he likes playing with them lol. I'd ditch the MSD at the same time, unless we are talking ultra high RPM's, it's not doing anything HEI can't do. My opinion of course.

 

[Stomis]

Problem is that the distributor is like super expensive and I doubt he'll want to change it out.

 

[dyeager535]

Sounds like you might need to call MSD, unless someone on here has played with them.

 

[Stomis]

Nah my dad is gonna order a new box, even though I know thats not whats wrong and told him that and I'm gonna reinstall it.

The distributor has all sorts of weird timing curves and **** you can adjust. My dads vette has been sputtering once its warm and he thought the ignition box was over heating but now I know the distributor just needs to be adjusted. He said he wanted to get a new box to be safe though.

 

[4X4HIGH]

IIRC MSD's website tells you how to test the box. Why not just test it and prove to him that there's nothing wrong with it (hopefully) and save him some coin.