Driving an MSD Ignition Box

[Matthew Lee Franklin]

>P.P.S. Since Summit sells the MSD 6A for $120US, is it really worth worrying
>about how to DIY the ignition driver? Odds are that by the time you get a
>driver that works as well as an MSD, you'll have invested WAY more than
>$120.
That is the nature of all kinds of DIY projects.  It would be really 
satisfying to start with a cup of sand, a chunk of copper ore, and some tar 
and wind up with an ignition system. :-)  That's a little extreme; I'm lazy 
and would probably spend the 18 or 20 bucks on an HEI driver module.  But I 
really appreciate the discussion.  I am learning a lot.

On the MSD...  You could probably scope the trigger signal when hooked to 
points or whatever and just try to duplicate it.  I would almost guess that 
a TTL might do it.  Or if not then an open collector TTL with a pull up to 
the 12v supply.  I triggered an Altronic (which is not the same as 
Autotronic the makers of MSD) PM1 industrial CD ignition with a 50 
microsecond +/- 10 microsecond TTL pulse.  But they sent me a print with 
the firing specs.

Probably the easy way would be to call Autotronics and ask them.  I'd be 
curious to find out what it takes to fire those.  Good Luck!

Later,
Matt