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ArbyB
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2014
This is a nice unit, but has some things to note, especially if the application is using a stock (say classic car) harness.First off , mechanically it will never drop in as expressed by so many in videos and doc's. The oil pump alignment slot is some odd degree off from stock, so just plan to gain access to your oil pump to rotate the alignment before the MSD drops anywhere close to the original location of a stock unit you may have just pulled out. (going to take multiple drops to get perfect alignment).Maybe just the pontiac units, but if others are the same plan to be in and out a bit.Secondly, the joy killer.This unit requires high voltage at ALL times, so check you voltage at the coil while cranking the engine !!Less than 10 volts , give up. Between 10 and 10.7 your luck will vary.I had 10.6 while cranking, and although i have enough battery to CRANK the entire engine for 15 minutes if needed, it was not enough to spark the MSD module . (ready-to-run unit 8528, no MSD ignition unit, but using a new MSD hi-cap coil)I was able to get the unit to spark and run long enough to tune the idle and put a final timing on it.But that was it, turn off the motor, try to restart - no luck (over and over again) - seems like a bad unit.So i replaced the unit with a new one, and another new coil... Same exact scenario, fired one time, and never again.Contacted MSD... first thing they stated was that amazon is not an authorized distributor of MSD and my support may be limited.But we blew past that and determined that i needed MORE THAN 10.6 volts at the coil while cranking.While MSD was on the phone I hooked a meter directly to my battery, and it was dropping to 10.8 volts itself during cranking.So OK, problem identified.Solution, get a new high-end battery and rewire the (already cleared for Electronic) ignition.(although again, the distributor module needs more energy than the starter motor ... go figure that)What I heard was this: "never try to start your classic car if its been sitting in the garage for a month" because although it will crank fine, it wont start. And doesn't that suck. (good battery even if mildly low can keep you stranded)That all said, I returned the MSD, got a Pertronix HEI, dropped it in and have been running happily ever since (and saved $165 in the doing...) (HEI has low votage tolerance down to 8.5-9 volts ... ish )One mans story of course, your mileage may vary ... but food for thought.I would have loved the MSD just for the kool factor so giving it a 3 for that, but i couldnt get past the pitfall and the hrs of wasted time.
M Probe
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2014
Product was as described.
Emg
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2013
I like the product and MSD has always provided good parts. Shipping was fast and it does indeed fit Pontiac 400 & 455 cid motors. The advertising is somewhat misleading though. It is advertised as an all in one but in fact you still need to buy a coil. Also noticed that its cheaper now than when I bought it.
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