Best cap and rotor?

[LEADFOOT]

I am in need of a new cap and rotor. I just don't know which brand to get. I have a msd 6a, and was thinking of getting a msd cap and rotor. I see some people had msd and they use accel cap and rotor. Which one is the best? Also one more Q, what is the difference between the stock coil and the msd blaster coil? Summit says no difference. The stock one will work just fine. I have learned not to believe everthing they say.

[DROPPEDGMC]

msd has a good cap and rotor. the diference in coils is a hotter spark

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

The Accel cap has always been recommended to me, but I didn't notice a difference between it and a Conrad set. The Conrads are much cheaper, and seem to last longer for me. I've never tried MSD's set, but I'm definitely interested. Caps & rotors wear out a lot faster when I have the 6AL connected.

[OBI WAN]

Napa Echlin or anything that uses solid copper. Most use a plated metal for the plug runs and copper for the center!!

[Supercharged-ZQ8]

A second vote for Echlin, here. . .

[biglouie_underpressure]

werd.....i've had mine for the longest

[biglouie_underpressure]

how often should that stuff be changed?

[Minitrucker4lyfe]

Msd is the way to go but I like Accel also.

[T Man]

One more vote for the NAPA. They usually have quality parts for pretty cheeep, notice I said usually. To you guys with the MSD 6A. What did you pay for yours, and was it worth it? I seem to be running afuly rich. It doesnt throw a code, but it blackens my tailpipe with soot. Will the MSD fix that or is there an easier fix, like advancing the timing

[OBI WAN]

Some of the other companies still use the old plastic too in making caps and rotors which add to carbon tracking. I dont of hand remember the names of the plastics involved, but could look it up, but it do make a difference.
I go 50K on a cap, rotor, plugs and wires and usually they are good enough to go much longer, but I'm picky that way.
Black soot in the tailpipe is really normal unless it begins to form chunks, then it could be rich and or the 02's worn out. 02's should be done every 80-100k max cause they will lose the ability to tune it and when they wear and buildup carbon, they make the motor run rich.
I've run MSD's since 1978 and have found about and average of 1 1/2 MPG's on everything Ive run them on. Figure the mileage part out and the savings end up paying for a MSD at around 1 1/2 years and Ive run some as long as 10 years taking them off one vehicle to put on another. You can pay around $146-$169 for a 6A, but this last one I got was a Ebay one were a guy with 99.8% out of 200 sales didnt report a problem and got it for $75. Been running this one now for nearing 2 years!!

[Jake Nac]

http://www.jakesautocare.com/locator-mechanical.gif As OB1 Mentioned, Napa Echlin All the Way
.

[Maximus]

Napa all the way for quality and price you can't beat them.They also sell some really good plugwires also.MSD boxes have always been the best in my experience and Mallory makes good ignition parts too.I would not run Accel on anything I own again.Now this is my experience but their quality has always been less than stock and their failure rate high.I used to sell auto parts for Advanced and Autozone and Accell stuff came back way to much.

[Jake Nac]

Go with the Good stuff.
Jake
NAC
AUA
PTR
AOE

[T Man]

Im sure my o2 is worn out. It has 114xxx miles on it and it is an 87, probably time for a change. What will one from a stealership run me. I do not wanna run bosch.

[OBI WAN]

I forgot all about Jake being a NAPA car center dealie!! HAHAHA!!

Stealership uses and sells Bosch stuff. Dont be fooled by what youve read about Bosch and the A/C Delco box it comes in. Bosch has pretty much bought out A/C Delco and its parts are made at Valeo etc which then box them as A/C Delco!!

[HenryJ]

Well I will probably step on toes here, but I have been less than pleased with some of the ignition parts that have been coming from Echlin.

When the issue of threadlock compound being responsible for cracking the plastic distributor housings came up. I contacted our local NAPA sales rep , who contacted Echlin about the issue. Nothing happened. So I talked to the Echlin rep. Explained " the instructions included clearly state that the threads must be cleaned with a thread tapping tool. No such metric self tapping machine thread tool exists. I was assured that they already knew of the problem, and were including self tapping/thread cleaning screws without locking compound with all the newer caps.
That was two years ago. Still no change in either the instructions, or screws.

I maintain a fleet of 75 various vehicles and new Echlin ignition parts failing and defective parts became an issue here a while back.
The sales rep tried to apease, but there is nothing worse than wasting time taking back new parts all the time. The warranty is good and I still use NAPA as the supplier of the majority of my parts, just not Echlin ignition parts.

I have had four hall effect triggers that were bad right out of the box, rotors where the contact loosened up (one came off) , a distributor cap that had a contact pressed into the cap backward.
Now none of these were parts for Chevrolets, but it lost my confidence in the manufacturer.
The Echlin rep said there was a shortfall in inventory for a time and some sub-standard parts were put in the Echlin boxes to maintain inventory. That didn't instill any confidence here. How am I to know when they decide to do that again?

When refering to caps and rotors, I don't really like the design of any one manufacturer. I have seen some caps with brass contacts that I really like, but then the rotor by the same maunfacturer is "cheesy". Then you find a nice rotor and the cap looks like "chit".
It is a sad situation. Maybe I am just a difficult customer? ;)

I settle for what is not exceptional, but as good as it gets I guess. I have been using ACDelco for the GM's , Motorcraft for the Fords, and Mopar for the Dodges. There have been fewer problems since I started using these ignition parts on everything.

[redvortec]

I prefer MSD ignition components to all it's competition. Their distributor caps are made from a DuPont material called Rynite. It is some very stout plastic. The contact surfaces are premium brass and quality is the best I have seen. The plug wires are super. I have an MSD box on four of my five vehicles. I love how a CD ignition wakes up an older car with a point distributor. Hey. just one mans opinion.

[firehawkclone]

Except for the MSD(didnt kbnow they made one for 98 4.3)i've fried every cap/rotor in short order 15/20T miles!Maybe its my JACOBS coil,i dont know.

[LEADFOOT]

I prefer MSD ignition components to all it's competition. Their distributor caps are made from a DuPont material called Rynite. It is some very stout plastic. The contact surfaces are premium brass and quality is the best I have seen. The plug wires are super. I have an MSD box on four of my five vehicles. I love how a CD ignition wakes up an older car with a point distributor. Hey. just one mans opinion.
I called a local performance store and asked them if msd makes a cap and rotor for my truck. The guy checked and said yes, he had to order it. It came in the next day and I went to pick it up and it was for the msd distr., not the factory distr. He called msd and they said they don't make an OE replacement cap and rotor for my truck. So I am S.O.L. on the msd deal.

I would not run Accel on anything I own again.Now this is my experience but their quality has always been less than stock and their failure rate high.I used to sell auto parts for Advanced and Autozone and Accell stuff came back way to much.
Sh*t. I just ordered an accell cap and rotor from advanced auto parts. Cost the same as Summit with there free shipping (handling $8.95 !WTF!). Hopefully it does good for me, if not I will return it and check into mallory. Napa didn't do me any good. Their echlin cap and rotor looks just like the stock one, aluminum contacts, no brass what so ever.