Orange Box

do like the old NASCAR drivers did. mount it inside the car(away from the heat,weather) and have a spare box mounted beside it. If the car dies, just unplug it, and plug in the spare. Seriously , how about inside the glovebox, just run a ground to the firewall.
 
My orange box is on the right side of the chassis next to the glove box. You can see it clearly when the glove box is removed. I thought this was very clever on the part of whoever did it. I will try to send pictures but I have a new computer and the software transferred in all kinds of odd places.
This has worked fine for four years that I know about.

Jack
 
69hemibeep said:
My points and condenser are still ok today :D
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Them points loooove that dry (oven) air don't they??? :acme: :acme:
 
So I have a generic parts store ECU on my car. I think it is from Car Quest.

I have an Orange Box and also a MP Chrome box for a spare.

Would I even notice a difference if I switched them out? I hate to cause a mild breakdown by fixing something that isn't broke, especially if I won't see a gain.
 
SomeCarGuy said:
I think the 70 model cars had a firewall bracket that kept the ECU about and inch off the wall for some air to circulate around it.
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Yes they do. It keeps the box away from the firewall to keep it cool. Excess heat is the biggest problem with the orange box. A trip to your local junk yard will net you one. The firewall brackets are on the Fifth Ave, and they can still be found in the junk yards. You only have to drill 2 new holes in the firewall to mount it.
 
MarPar said:
69hemibeep said:
My points and condenser are still ok today :D
Click to expand...

Them points loooove that dry (oven) air don't they??? :acme: :acme:
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mine are still fine, and it's been anything but dry here.....
 
SomeCarGuy said:
So I have a generic parts store ECU on my car. I think it is from Car Quest.

I have an Orange Box and also a MP Chrome box for a spare.

Would I even notice a difference if I switched them out? I hate to cause a mild breakdown by fixing something that isn't broke, especially if I won't see a gain.
Click to expand...

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Unless you plan to spend a lot of time over 6000 rpm the one you have will be fine. The chrome box is for higher rpm use and does get hot in daily use. It isn't recommended for daily use by MP. For cruising around and the occaisional romp on the loud pedal your generic unit should be good enough.
 
OK, got the MSD 6AL on......car runs but backfires when you let off very badly and several times. Almost acts like the Blue Box which was a 340 box. Just came in didn't really check anything out. Please give me your thoughts. Orange box ran very smooth, even right before I took it off. I'm thinking it's a timing issue but I jacked with it a little bit and nothing seemed to make it run like the orange box...........HELP..... :brickwall:
 
Hoosier Bird said:
OK, got the MSD 6AL on......car runs but backfires when you let off very badly and several times. Almost acts like the Blue Box which was a 340 box. Just came in didn't really check anything out. Please give me your thoughts. Orange box ran very smooth, even right before I took it off. I'm thinking it's a timing issue but I jacked with it a little bit and nothing seemed to make it run like the orange box...........HELP..... :brickwall:
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MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PILL IN IT....USUALLY A 6/6500RPM PILL......does the instructions say not to use a digital or dial back timing light.I bought one of those flaming river that i install 2 d batterys in it.....works great
 
Rev limiter and ground are the only two things I had trouble with. I did hear a new sound on one of my cars when I put the 6AL box in it. Turned out to be a valve slapping the seat, a long story. I guess the box is so much hotter that the sound became more distinct with the 6AL installed. I don't recall changing the timing on any of my cars.

Good luck.

Where did you end up putting the box?
 
they say in a cool spot.....mine was breaking up when the track was 117degrees.....i wonder what the temp was under my hood???
 
after we changed the lifters and took off the electronic stuff off mine,it backfired like yours. It had an MSD coil on it. Put an old stocker on it, and it ran fine.
 
One other thought, did you open up the gap on the spark plugs? A gap of 0.035" is too close for an MSD setup, I think you need to go with 0.040-0.050" if I recall but I am sure it's in your directions.
 
Hoosier Bird said:
OK, got the MSD 6AL on......car runs but backfires when you let off very badly and several times. Almost acts like the Blue Box which was a 340 box. Just came in didn't really check anything out. Please give me your thoughts. Orange box ran very smooth, even right before I took it off. I'm thinking it's a timing issue but I jacked with it a little bit and nothing seemed to make it run like the orange box...........HELP..... :brickwall:
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I think you have some issues with the rest of the set up. Plug wires should be in good shape, resistor core and cylinders 8 and 4 wires and 5 and 7 wires need to be seperated or cross at right angles to each other to prevent cross fire. Look at the dist cap and make sure there's no carbon tracking inside between terminals and clean on the outside too. Plug gap needs to be @.050". I've used the MSD blaster coils on a couple cars with no problem.

The MSD is great... but it does need all the rest of the system to be at 100%.
 
Well, I thought I was doing a good thing by leaving the ballast resistor for protection of the MSD unit.........after testing everything that I thought it could be I pulled the resistor off and put a jumper between the wires and it runs good. Still have some issues with popping out of the exhaust on deceleration. Every component is new from my rebuild. I'll change plugs tomorrow and regap at .050 and check all the wire routing.........but I think I'm really close. I mounted it on the fender well below the washer reservoir. Not the prettiest but at least I'm driving again. I wanted to mount it under the dash but didn't want to take that much time. I did solder every connection. Thanks for the help........ :thumbsup: :cheers:
 
Hoosier Bird said:
Well, I thought I was doing a good thing by leaving the ballast resistor for protection of the MSD unit.........after testing everything that I thought it could be I pulled the resistor off and put a jumper between the wires and it runs good. Still have some issues with popping out of the exhaust on deceleration. Every component is new from my rebuild. I'll change plugs tomorrow and regap at .050 and check all the wire routing.........but I think I'm really close. I mounted it on the fender well below the washer reservoir. Not the prettiest but at least I'm driving again. I wanted to mount it under the dash but didn't want to take that much time. I did solder every connection. Thanks for the help........ :thumbsup: :cheers:
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Oh yeah... you can't use the ballast resistor.
 
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