MSD dist. ?

rod · 02-05-2024, 08:34 PM

a friend gave me a good but old MSD dist. appears to an early one. cast I think. any way 1 wire from the pickup is different color from the MSD wiring book colors. I called MSD tech, and the guy said MSD never made a pickup with those colors. they are black with an orange stripe and black with a purple stripe. he said if it is connected wrong it will retard the timing. I put it in my engine. purple to purple at the MSD 7, and green to orange. the engine runs.
so, my ? is, and lets assume the retard is 10 degrees. if I set the timing at 20, is it really 30 retarded 10 showing 20 or is it showing 20 but really 10? or is it really a true 20.

the pickup is blue if that makes any diff.
thanks Rod in AZ

02-05-2024, 08:34 PM	#1
rod Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Kingman, NW AZ. in the middle of the longest stretch of Route 66 Posts: 314 Likes: 0 Liked 20 Times in 15 Posts	MSD dist. ? a friend gave me a good but old MSD dist. appears to an early one. cast I think. any way 1 wire from the pickup is different color from the MSD wiring book colors. I called MSD tech, and the guy said MSD never made a pickup with those colors. they are black with an orange stripe and black with a purple stripe. he said if it is connected wrong it will retard the timing. I put it in my engine. purple to purple at the MSD 7, and green to orange. the engine runs. so, my ? is, and lets assume the retard is 10 degrees. if I set the timing at 20, is it really 30 retarded 10 showing 20 or is it showing 20 but really 10? or is it really a true 20. the pickup is blue if that makes any diff. thanks Rod in AZ