Anybody else trouble with "Mag Look" Distributors?

I picked up one of those "Mag Look" Distributors for a small block chevy and it initially worked when trying to get the car running.

I was warned not to hook the car up to a battery charger and so on and to be careful with it and was.

Dang thing died anyway.

Upon contacting the company (who's first line of work is another form of electrical part building and not distributors...so I had to explain everything to the chick on the phone and she was finally able to send me to a person who knew what I was talking about. BTW, she sounded really hot and I worked my magic on her) and I was a bit shocked about the response.

I was told they had a design flaw in the product and thought they had it fixed. I was also told they knew about the issue and were working on it and would take my name. They said this was happening a lot and had been dealing with it for over a year. I was told if and when they figured out what was wrong they would send me the parts to fix it.

I asked why they were still selling it if it had "problems" and got little answer.

This was several weeks ago and I have now put a "traditional" points distributor on the car and have a really awesome piece of shelf art to go along with my shrunken heads, fuzzy dice, and orcabetty bra's.

Anybody run across this or have any idea what to do to fix the thing? It is not internal module you appear to have to be so careful with.

I should have gone the rat rod route and used an MSD box sheet metal screwed to the firewall crooked like all my car club buddies.

 

Check this thread, the info you are hunting may be there.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204790

It appears that making sure that the unit is well grounded is an important issue.

<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

I am real sure it was not a grounding issue.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, I missed that when I searched.

 

I bought on of those MAG LOOK distributers at a swap meet (yeah I know). Without even trying it, I shipped it to Cal. for them to go through it. When I got it back, I put it in my Deuce Rdstr and it ran marginally then quit. I took it out and replaced it with a real mag out of my gasser. The car then ran great. Like you, I now have some wall art.

 

Thing that really bothers me is once again we have a company the IMHO does not care one bit about the consumer.

Really bad idea when you are in a niche market like ours.

I really was floored that they know it has a problem and still sell it.

I also was left with the impression Speedway knows about it also and is still selling them.

Nice...real nice.

 

I went through two of them on a flathead roadster before I got one that worked. I sold the car in Portugal so I have no idea if it's still running. 32Spitfire put one on his now famous roadster and it left him cold at Goodguys In Columbus. He has since replaced it with a real mag.

 

Hmmm, I think I am seeing a trend here.

 

Just so no one else falls into this trap could you tell us who the company is that makes these. Would these happen to be ones made by Taylor?

 

Bingo!

 

First off your the rat rod rocker, 2nd your in hot rod usa? Did you just join to bitch about these guys?

 

you guys been suportin him for yrars

 

Nope.

 

I don't support anybody for yrars.... If they can't get their own yrars, I'm sure not giving up any of mine.....

 

Yrars are almost extinct now anyway.

 

agreed Rash!

 

thanks for the heads up

 

Any probs with Joe Hunt Magalikes???

 

un related..but Ive been meaning to ask..anyone try those "powerfire" ready to run distributors?

its got a knob to adjust timing up or down by 1/2 a degree at a time...junk????

 

oh and for $599.99...i would be sending that back..not hanging it on the wall!

 

I have the same problem.

I have had mine "too long" in order to do that according to those involved.

It was purchased early in the build in other words and is beyond return policy time.

This is the now on "my wall" along with the six two's that may or may not go back on the car at some point. I wanted to run all six...not the best idea I guess given my limited skills.

 

Ahh..that sucks.

maybe they will come up with a fix for ya sooner or later..until than, i guess wall art it is.

 

Don't be scared, run them 6x2's!

 

Krylon 32 is right....Stay away from the look alike mags and go with a real Taylor/Vertex mag they work!
Justin at Taylor/Vertex can set you up with the real deal and it will work very well everytime!!

32 Spitfire

 

Why would I give Taylor money for a real one when I got a "fake" one from them and can not do anything with it?

 

Here it is on 2/5/2011 and after many calls with the promise of "we will get back to you" I still have mag look a like that does not work that I wasted money on.

I have given up with these fools, worst company ever.

I last tried almost six months ago.

Once again it was a struggle to find out who to talk to on the phone and once again I got them to admit that it was a design error they were aware of and from what I was told they have asked other companies for help and were considering changing the internals 100%.

I was told they would call me, I tried again and nobody knew what I was talking about and that they would call me back.

No return calls have ever happened and to be honest I forgot about it until I was at the GNRS.

I have delt with this company since 2009 on a known design flaw on a 600 buck hunk of junk.

I vote worst them worst company ever.

The tech said we did everything right, several employees said they had a design flaw and knew it and yet they kept selling them. Always said they would call, never did. Great bunch.

 

send it to GMC Bubba for a conversion. The Mopar pickup/HEI module that he uses to convert pretty much anything, ought to do the trick.

I always want to offer to buy somebody's "wall hanger" to try it, but never have the bucks when the subject comes up.

 

Oh ya. I too have the $600 paper weight.