This is the lowest price I could find the MSD opti for. Let me know if you know of a place where I can obtain one for less. http://www.streetsideauto.com/shoppi...paddtocart.asp

$449.84 is the shipped price; you have to use coupon code SSA5OFF to get the $23.68 off.

 

You can do better, buy a stocker for under $300 and have a BETTER piece. The MSD is proving to NOT be an upgrade.

 

the only MSD part that is worth anything is the cap/rotor

 

really? i got to start reading up on it. i have one and havent had prblems yet but it hasnt been that long. i know the adjustable timing doesnt do to much good on it considering evreything u have to take off just to do it. but the higher rpms it can go to has to be much better over stock at least, right?

 

I know every one likes the GM unit. But I went through a GM unit from thepartsladi on ebay in less than 3 months. And I am currently eating up autozone remain units like candy. I am looking to try some thing different now, and the MSD looks like my best choice other than a ltcc set up. The partsladi unit might be better with a upgraded MSD cap/rotor, but I am just going to pay a little extra for the MSD unit and have a 1yr warranty.

 

Looks like you got a strong setup too. If it holds up during wot for you, I think it will be more than good enough for my setup.

 

Well, it's your money, of course, but why would so many people report problems with a piece they paid almost twice as much for? Don't believe me..do searches on here and other F-body sites and you'll reach the same conclusion quickly. The MSD, as 96capricemgr stated, is simply not the upgrade they were touted to be. If you can't live with the GM design, switch to a system that does away with it completely...don't buy the MSD and add problems.

 

thats the reason i got it cuz of the higher rpms its designed for. others didnt last at them. but like i said i havent had it long enough to see if it will stand up to my engine. i only have about 700 miles on it but is doing good so far. everything else started sucking by now with my setup besides the gm version but still, it only lasted 4 months

 

Ive had a MSD opti in for two seasons, about 7000 miles of driving and 20 passes at the track, seems to be holding up so far, we will see, its been up to 6800 numerous times

 

I wish I could say the same. I got one of the earlier models and it lasted about 10 miles. Eventually, the car would stay running for about 5-10 minutes and then just instantly shut off once it heated up. I'm assuming the rotor buried itself into the cap but I've just been too lazy and pissed off to take it all back apart.

 

Did you guys put thread locker on the MSD rotor screws?

 

Sound like there's something in your setup/install causing the problem. Too many people have gone 150K miles on the stocker.

What is the failure mechanism for your units? It can't be high RPM, because I don't see the mods to support needing exceptionally high RPM.

 

the PCM is limited to 7,000 RPMs anyways, stock or MSD opti doesnt change the RPM limit. My current stocker has seen several 6800 shifts as well, no issues at all.

 

The stock rotors and caps are the most often failed part for me. MY auto is set to shift out at 6300rpms, and the stock type rotors seem to explode on the GM units I had. As for my current autozone setup I changed 4 of them, 2 were bad at first start, 1 the rotor exploded, and the current one is causing a low rpm miss and power loss. If I were to buy a GM unit and MSD cap and rotor I would be looking at close to the same price for a MSD opti.

 

I suspect there can be outside issues that cause rotor failures.

Maybe harmonics or something is breaking the plastic.