INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

3

WIRING

GENERAL WIRING INFORMATION

Wire Length: All of the wires of the MSD Ignition may be shortened as

long as quality connectors are used or soldered in place. To lengthen the

wires, use one size bigger gauge wire (10 gauge for the power leads and

16 gauge for the other wires) with the proper connections. All connections

must be soldered and sealed.

Grounds: A poor ground connection can cause many frustrating problems.

When a wire is specified to go to ground, it should be connected to the

battery negative terminal, engine block or chassis. There should always

be a ground strap between the engine and the chassis. Always securely

connect the ground wire to a clean, paint free metal surface.

The MSD-8 Plus has a ground stud just to the left of the terminal strip. Use this to ground other MSD

accessories (Figure 3).

Coil Connections: When using a single coil, both coil positive terminals must be connected to the

coil. Either connect both orange wires to the coil, or use the supplied jumper to connect the two coil

positive termianls at the terminal strip.

Terminal

Wire

Function

ORANGE Connects to the positive (+) terminal of the second coil.This is the only

wire that makes electrical contact with the coil positive terminal.

COIL 2 +

BLACK

Connects to the negative (-) terminal of the second coil.

This is the only

wire that makes electrical contact with the coil negative terminal.

COIL 2-

HEAVY

BLACK

This wire connects to a good ground, either at the battery negative (-) terminal

or to the engine.

BAT -

HEAVY

RED

GRAY

BAT +

TACH

TACH

2-STEP

IGNITION

Connects to a switched 12 volt source. Such as the ignition key or switch.

RED

WHITE

This wire is used to connect to the points, electronic ignition amplifier output

or to the Yellow wire of an MSD Timing Accessory.

When this wire is used,

the Magnetic Pickup connector is not used.

POINTS

VIOLET

MAG +

GREEN

MAG -

DARK

BLUE

This wire connects directly to the battery positive (+) terminal or to a positive

battery junction or the positive side of the starter solenoid.

Note: Never

connect to the alternator.

This terminal delivers a 12 volt square wave signal as an output for a

tachometer or devices that require an rpm signal.

When this terminal is connected to 12 volts, RPM module 1 is active. When

there is no 12 volts, RPM module 2 is active.

These wires are routed together in one harness from the Magnetic Pickup

connector. The connector plugs directly into an MSD Distributor or Crank

Trigger. It will also connect to factory magnetic pickups or other aftermarket

pickups (Figure 4). The Violet wire is pos. (+) and the Green is neg. (-).

When these wires are used, the Points Terminal is not.

ORANGE

COIL 1 +

BLACK

COIL 1-

Connects to the positive (+) terminal of the coil.

This is the only wire that

makes electrical contact with the coil positive terminal.

Connects to the negative (-) terminal of the coil.

This is the only wire that

makes electrical contact with the coil negative terminal.

GROUND

Figure 3 Ground Stud.