where to hide my msd unit?

[fastfredracing]

I am getting started on my 76 turbo carrera. It was having some ignition issues when I parked it in the fall, and I think I just found the problem. My CDI unit is not humming, I have power and ground. I am going to go with msd. Good upgrade, reliable, and can get one in a day if I become stranded somewhere. I usually re-arrange the relay panel in the back and mount the unit right on the panel, but I want this car to look 100% original in the engine compartment. I am thinking of either mounting it under passenger seat, or maybe on the firewall in where it will be hidden by the airbox anyhow. Any other good places to bury one? Would love to see some pics of some of your solutions.
I will also send my cdi out to Ingo, and have it repaired, and that way I will have some redundancy if I should break down.

[philip j]

You won't be disappointed with this ignition system. I'd would never go back to stock. On the firewall, you cannot see it with air box installed. Just build yourself a mounting plate.

[JFairman]

It's impossible to drill holes for the left side of the MSD in the firewall behind the CIS air flow meter housing unless you have a small right angle drill that will fit back there.

If you mount the MSD more over to the right and closer to the right side shock tower and move the right side injector lines out of the way a regular electric drill will fit in there to make the 4 mounting holes in the firewall.
It will still be hidden by the stock air cleaner housing.

Some people mount it where the origonal CDI was. You can move the existing relay sockets and relays over to make more room for it.
There are lots of posts with pictures of different installs on the 911 technical forum. Try a search.

[wjfk32]

Inside the cockpit..


Walt

[fredmeister]

Is there an advantage to mounting under the passenger seat such as better heat dissipation? I was wondering if it needs to be cooled significantly and in the engine compartment it would be subject to the engine heat.
Also, it would be easier to adjust rpm settings and other adjustments on the unit if under the car seat. Just my observations.
Other than running wiring back to the engine compartment, is there any issues I missed? How big of diameter of wiring bundle needs to be run back to the engine compartment? From the picture above it looks like you will need a 1/4 inch hole or so.

[wjfk32]

I wanted my MSD unit to be cool and away from any type of water/rain. My car had approx 1/4-3/8hole (rear passenger seat floor-snaked it thru- hole already, that leads to the ground wire-connected)..Just made my connections wiring from the passenger seat wires to msd wires. Put it together as one. Clean and nice. ALL i had to do is put some silicone and hollow rubber plug for a great/waterproof fit.

Walt

[WANNA930]

I am fairly sure they used to say in the instructions not to install in heat soak areas. I actually sent one back that was mounted near a set of headers and they advised that was reason for failure.

Mount up front near battery and no "hot" wire to run.

I see in sig Peru red was that the car last year on EBAY in NJ or PA??

Seller was flaky with returning emails or I would have bought it.

[Toby930]

Hi,

Regarding keeping the MSD unit from getting wet... I actually opened up mine and sealed it with Loctite Black Sealer. Should be basiclly water-proof now :-)

I didn't like the look of the MSD. Wanted it to look more like the BOSCH unit. So we removed the Paint and placed it where the CDI is placed. We made a bracket of Aluminum and moved the fuel filter + Accu like 1 inch in.






/ Tobias

[fastfredracing]

Yep, that was the car, I did not buy it through e bay though, Seller did seem flaky on the phone, but I went to look any how, and the deal was a little flaky, but the car was far nicer than I expected. I don't know why he did not even bother to clean it up a little for the sale. It was a rust free complete unmolested 76 turbo carrera. The paint is less than perfect but the rest of the car is super clean. I drove it home , 5 hour trip, it ran great.
I thought about mounting the MSD up in the trunk, but that is a lot of wire to run, and it is real easy to grab 12v right off the starter terminal.
The above idea is pretty crafty. I am really leaning towards mounting under the passneger seat.

[slow&rusty]

Originally Posted by Toby930

Hi,

Regarding keeping the MSD unit from getting wet... I actually opened up mine and sealed it with Loctite Black Sealer. Should be basiclly water-proof now :-)

I didn't like the look of the MSD. Wanted it to look more like the BOSCH unit. So we removed the Paint and placed it where the CDI is placed. We made a bracket of Aluminum and moved the fuel filter + Accu like 1 inch in.

Tobias

Ingenious!!!

[mooney265]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

ingenious!!!

+1

[wjfk32]

You are committing IPR violation.


Anyway-Nice werk...

Walt

[Toby930]

Hehe, yeah I know Walt. Good thing it's easy to remove the stickers :-)

Many thx to you all!