aftermarket ignition- worth it?

Ive done some searching and reading, and Ive pretty much got the impression that aftermarket ignitions really arent worth much for a 97-up xj. (?) I have a MSD 6a and Jacobs coil from my yj. It help a bit with that, but it had a few mods too. Since I have it sitting there, I figured I would use it in the xj. In looking at the engine compartment of the xj, I realized there isnt much, if any, room for the msd and/or coil.

SO, is it even worth the hassle of trying to fit these under the hood?? If not Ill just sell em for 'xj mod money'.

Thanks
Mike

Sell 'em

yeah....seems like the best chance would be just get rid of it

bought the 6al for my 91 didnt help much sold it to my bro in law for his 74 and wow what a difference for him :gee:
its crap for you heep stay stock it works fine...
themud

It's up to you but since I run the 6T with MSD wires, MS blaster coil and overgapping my plugs I have found the following results.

.035 (stock) no benefit
.045 (.010 over) mild power increase, no more hesitation, no lurching during idle, better mpg (about 1mpg gain)
.055 (.20 over) bigger power increase, less mpg (about 2mpg loss), replacing plugs, distributor cap, and rotor ever 8-10K miles.

I have a 98 with K&N air filter (had a cone filer at the time), 2.5" cat back exhaust with Flowmaster 40 muffler.

Essentially the only reason I saw any change was due to overgappng my plugs. To do this and see performance gains I needed to upgrade my ignition. I have no idea if the 6T is helping or if it's all due to the coil. I love the way the engine handles (on hard accelerations and no engine lurching while waiting at stop lights) and I know I drive it hard so I take extra care of it. I run mobil 1 oil and K&N oil filters. I've been using the larger oil filer (PH-8A fram number or 3001 K&N) and change my oil every 4-5K miles and run a tank of injector cleaner when I change the oil. I change the tranny fluid every 3rd oil change and change the differ fluid every 30K miles or deep water crossing (whichever comes first).

Later,
Rough

I have a 6a in my 89 mj and I love it. as mentioned in the previous post you have to do some tuning with the plugs and even the timing to really notice the difference.

The other mods that I have hi flow injectors, K&N intake,headman headers. head work with 97 intake manifold and TB with spacer. msd 6a ignition box and coil, accel wires and 2x elctrode Bosche plugs.

after doing all this to a rebuilt motor woth 90,000 miles. she still has the power to pull down a house and pass like a dragster.

Randy

2wdxj said:

I have a 6a in my 89 mj and I love it. as mentioned in the previous post you have to do some tuning with the plugs and even the timing to really notice the difference.

The other mods that I have hi flow injectors, K&N intake,headman headers. head work with 97 intake manifold and TB with spacer. msd 6a ignition box and coil, accel wires and 2x elctrode Bosche plugs.

after doing all this to a rebuilt motor woth 90,000 miles. she still has the power to pull down a house and pass like a dragster.

Randy

Click to expand...

it doesnt suprise me that it helps with a modded engine.... but for a stock one, I fgured it wouldnt help much.

I may just try to fit the coil, we'll see.. there is no room under the hood!

I've talked to the one speed guy with a ZJ IIRC (can't remember his username) and the stock coil on most all Jeep is a pretty high outage unit. Replacing it with an aftermarket doesn't gain much at all. The biggest gains would be in wires and plugs.

This is one area I have a bit of experience in, and Weasel nailed it. Splitfire plugs and wires, or Bosch platinum splits with a good set of high output wires would be the way to go, especially if its your daily driver. You will get noticable efficiency (2-3 mpg highway or more) and response gain. I have spent the money to go both ways, and settled with plugs and wires.