Centrifugal advance lockout.

terry1 · 08-20-2011, 09:09 AM

I was wondering if there is any advantage(pros/cons)to locking out the centrifugal advance on my new MSD 85551 distributor?
Stock eliminator stick car.

GTX JOHN · 08-20-2011, 05:16 PM

I have had many people tell me that locking out the advance make the timing

more stable at High RPM.

We put the light silver springs in the MSD Dist. and leave it at that. When I

locked the Dist. in the old days I broke quite a few Mopar Starters.

I believe that most of the current MSD offerings for ignition offer a

start retard that would fix the starter drive problem. I believe I remember in

some of MSD stuff you could cut a loop in box to start retard.

I wonder has anyone tested on distributor machine or tested on car for

high RPM spark scatter or performance advantage?

terry1 · 08-20-2011, 06:08 PM

I am using a digital 7 MSD ignition box and I have activated the 10 deg retard on start up.
I never thought of starting problems.I guess that with 39-40 deg of timming and a retard of 10 deg to start the engine,I would still have to deal with 29 or so deg of advance timming to start the engine.Maybe I should re-think this.Thanks for the input.

terry1 · 08-20-2011, 06:43 PM

After more research I noticed that my(Digital 7)ignition programming alows for up to 25 deg of start(ing) retard{below 500 RPM}.That should certainly get me in the range to be able to start the engine with minimal abuse to my starter,I believe.

jmarkaudio · 08-21-2011, 12:31 PM

With a Digital 7 you want the timing locked. You can program timing curve in the software. Locking it should make the pickup more stable. Set up the timing with 2-4˚ retarded in the software and make it up with the distributor to get the timing where you want it at WOT. This will allow you to add a little timing in the software at any RPMs you may need.

08-20-2011, 09:09 AM	#1
terry1 Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Moncton, N.B. Posts: 276 Likes: 24 Liked 24 Times in 13 Posts	Centrifugal advance lockout. I was wondering if there is any advantage(pros/cons)to locking out the centrifugal advance on my new MSD 85551 distributor? Stock eliminator stick car.

08-20-2011, 05:16 PM	#2
GTX JOHN VIP Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Boulder City, Nevada 89005 Posts: 2,720 Likes: 2,770 Liked 2,437 Times in 688 Posts	Re: Centrifugal advance lockout. I have had many people tell me that locking out the advance make the timing more stable at High RPM. We put the light silver springs in the MSD Dist. and leave it at that. When I locked the Dist. in the old days I broke quite a few Mopar Starters. I believe that most of the current MSD offerings for ignition offer a start retard that would fix the starter drive problem. I believe I remember in some of MSD stuff you could cut a loop in box to start retard. I wonder has anyone tested on distributor machine or tested on car for high RPM spark scatter or performance advantage?

08-20-2011, 06:08 PM	#3
terry1 Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Moncton, N.B. Posts: 276 Likes: 24 Liked 24 Times in 13 Posts	Re: Centrifugal advance lockout. I am using a digital 7 MSD ignition box and I have activated the 10 deg retard on start up. I never thought of starting problems.I guess that with 39-40 deg of timming and a retard of 10 deg to start the engine,I would still have to deal with 29 or so deg of advance timming to start the engine.Maybe I should re-think this.Thanks for the input.

08-20-2011, 06:43 PM	#4
terry1 Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Moncton, N.B. Posts: 276 Likes: 24 Liked 24 Times in 13 Posts	Re: Centrifugal advance lockout. After more research I noticed that my(Digital 7)ignition programming alows for up to 25 deg of start(ing) retard{below 500 RPM}.That should certainly get me in the range to be able to start the engine with minimal abuse to my starter,I believe.

08-21-2011, 12:31 PM	#5
jmarkaudio Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 83 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Centrifugal advance lockout. With a Digital 7 you want the timing locked. You can program timing curve in the software. Locking it should make the pickup more stable. Set up the timing with 2-4˚ retarded in the software and make it up with the distributor to get the timing where you want it at WOT. This will allow you to add a little timing in the software at any RPMs you may need.