Thread: should i get msd coils?

I am getting new plugs and wires soon on my car, and i wanted to know if i should get the msd blaster coils as well. are they any good?

No.

Unless you want them for dress-up, they are overpriced and have never proven to add performance over much cheaper units. Get the ones from Jegs, they are rated the same as MSD, and have brass terminals, but only cost $90 for all three.

I think most look at ignition coils in the wrong way. They are looking for performance gains and you dont always get that in an upgraded ignition system. In many cases you do, but not always.

The MSD coils are a more powerful coil and while it may not make a huge difference in power levels it does help with promoting better burns in the combustion chamber which can help with efficiency. If you get a better burn, that helps combat knock some.

Are you going to drop a half second off your ET's? Probably not, unless your stock ignition system just sucks, which the GP's doesnt seem to fall in that category. Can you improve your fuel economy and maybe combat knock some? Absolutely.

So depending on what your goals are in considering an ignition system, that will ultimately determine whether or not such upgrades are useful. Obviously, higher power ignition coils are going to work better with low resistance wires like MSD's also, so keep that in mind too. No sense in putting on higher power ignition coils and then choking that power down with high resistance OEM plug wires.

Dyno proven to lose 5hp.

NO.

Most people also do not understand GM's ignition is very good stock

The MSD coils are a more powerful coil

no they arent. they are based on a GT coil, so they arent even as powerful as the stock GTP coils. keep the ones you have unless there is something wrong with them.

^ in that case, would i get better performance with GTP coil packs? would that work?

...possibly? i have no idea.

The MSD coils are rate at 45k volts I believe, OEM's are rated at 38k I believe. And unless there is any documentation to the contrary its a mute issue. Though, admittedly, OEM coil voltage information is hard to come by.

Id also like to see the dyno results that prove that it costs you 5hp.

More or less, from stock they are just eye candy.

I bought the red ones from Summit, and they preform just fine. They are not a true red, they are a light-ish red color (almost pink) so I made a carbon fiber coil cover to sorta hide them, and that made all the difference in the world hiding those. LOL

~F~

WE have 6 witnesses on 2 different gtps.

same dyno same night.

I long story short other person wanted to try them on his car. so swaped coil packs for a few runs. My numbers went up around 5hp ( have it on video some where. Always taped our dyno runs) after he went on dyno we put my msd back on lost 5hp ran again results were constant. Decided to swap stock coils back on guess what a 4.6 hp gain swapped again and lost 5.

did same experiment on the other car. His loss was around 3-4 constant.


They are really more for eye candy. Stock ignition system will handle the power. Yes they are cheaper then stock coils but unless there is any thing wrong with them, don't touch em.

And GTP and GT, SE coil packs are the same(3.8, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5) pretty much any mid mid 90's gm car with ICM

Originally Posted by Toofastgs

And GTP and GT, SE coil packs are the same(3.8, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5) pretty much any mid mid 90's gm car with ICM

why are there different part numbers for an l67 versus an l36?

yeah, i guess ill just keep the stock ones. probably not worth spending the money on them. now if i get some 10.4mm PRJ wires wll that cause any problems? I heard they are really good because it makes a "cleaner" spark

Originally Posted by Bio248

why are there different part numbers for an l67 versus an l36?

Externally as they're designed by application. The internals are more than likely the same. Just because they're a different number doesn't mean GTP coils are more powerful. Could be another small difference elsewhere that warrants a different part number.

Originally Posted by 2000GTP

I heard they are really good because it makes a "cleaner" spark

Someone explain to me a "dirty" spark, and we'll talk about a cleaner spark. All larger wires do is cut down on resistance so the plug gets more voltage. Less loss in the wires.

I want the PRJ's just for the fact their durable. Im always playing with something under the bonnet.

I bought those MSD's along with the 8.5mm wires and did multiple tests with them. (over the stock coils and wires...btw the stock wires were new) I saw about 2-4 mpg gain over the stockers and they do look a lot better too. I wasn't out to get any performance gains, just a hotter spark to help get rid of KR and they do their job.

Plus, are you REALLY gonna notice 4.6HP??!?!?! You'd lose that with 1* of KR which you will probably have with the stock coils...

Well said.

didnt know this was such a "hot" topic.