Recently picked up a Capacitive Discharge box, a "Mark Ten" and have been looking for directions on how to hook it up. They are bringing crazy money on eBay for a poor man's MSD. Thanks in advance!
"Crazy money for a Mk Ten??? Why? I ran one on my daily 25 years ago. Never saw a bit of improvement." Did you ever need to replace the points again? My thought was a budget alternative to Pertronics.
Crazy money...cause it's...vintage... I also had one WAY back. My grandmother bought it for me. It apparently had something to do with Lockheed Air. That's where she worked and got them at a swing'en deal. Herself, dad, mom and me...all got one. Did they do much, don't recall, but a capacitive ignition with a single spark...don't expect much. They will fire a plug thru adversion (bad fuel mixture, oil) a little better than a stock ignition though. Mike
Capacitor discharge is supposed to give a hotter but shorter lived spark. An early electronic ignition. The idea is to charge up a capacitor and discharge it through the coil giving the coil a 400 volt jolt resulting in a hotter spark. Was used in 2 stroke outboards because it would burn through oil deposits. MSD = multiple spark discharge. Works on the same principle but with multiple capacitors for a longer lived spark to get over the difficulty sometimes experienced with too short lived spark in the capacitor discharge ignitions.
You can get a similar but better result using a Ford thick film ignition module. Some were made with an aluminum heat sink and mounted on the rad support of Tbirds, Cougars, Probes, and Dustbuster vans. Get the matching coil and wiring harness when you hit the wreckers.
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