Are all ECUs created equal?

[westie47]

I just picked up the electronic ignition conversion kit for my 360, the kit arrived with a black distributor cap and a blue box....not what was pictured on Ebay...is there a difference between the blue and orange box? I can live with the black distributor cap.

 

[toolmanmike]

The different colors were always the rpm the box was good for. Most of the new boxes are crap. Use the one you have but contact @HALIFAXHOPS for a good quality old stock one. Have it as a spare in your trunk along with the tools needed to change it. Your blue box will fail. Just a matter of time. He probably has tan caps if you need one.

 

[aeon280]

From Cbodies forum.

The blue or gray or black box is stock. The orange box is aftermarket mopar and supposedly has a bit more dwell than the stock. The Chrome is also a street strip box with supposedly even more dwell time for a hotter spark and better combustion. Gold box is race only supposedly and I imagine has even more dwell time.

From what I have read you should avoid the orange box. they tend to have a high rate of failure.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Here is a Partial list of ECU's. Yes I have tan caps, 16 each.
Thanks mike.

 

[66Satellite47]

An old Mopar Blue box with the Gold heat sink 3690256 (8000+ RPM) is excellent FAR superior to the common orange box. The tan caps with brass contacts are better than the black with aluminum contacts.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Agreed Copper contacts are way better.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

There was a ECU chart kicking around that had all the combos and RPM's any one have it still?

 

[Daves69]

Mopar Blue box with the Gold heat sink 3690256

For reference......

If it helps........

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Thanks Dave. Kind of touched this on Fabo in the Coffee thread. Tons of variations and a lot of junk aftermarket around also, a lot with fake transistors. All I use is old stuff in the distributors and electronics. New stuff it absolute junk with a few exceptions.

 

[Lelo 500]

Thanks Dave. Kind of touched this on Fabo in the Coffee thread. Tons of variations and a lot of junk aftermarket around also, a lot with fake transistors. All I use is old stuff in the distributors and electronics. New stuff it absolute junk with a few exceptions.

What is your opinion of these?
https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Ignit-ion-LX101-Module/dp/B000CPK1DE (blue streak?)
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...hLgv6QP-I1SYcM8gD4SkSHQ5sQlxajFRoCeucQAvD_BwE

 

[Bee1971]

Mopar Performance ECU s for our electronic ignitions have not been manufactured in years , probably a decade or longer

Mopar Performance Gold - Chrome - Orange - Blue - Black ECU s are a thing of the past along with there colors

Not saying you might still find some old new stock on EBay or at swap meets

Like mentioned , don’t confuse all this crap / color in aftermarket with the original Mopar Performance colors and part numbers

 

[Bee1971]

What is your opinion of these?
https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Ignit-ion-LX101-Module/dp/B000CPK1DE (blue streak?)
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...hLgv6QP-I1SYcM8gD4SkSHQ5sQlxajFRoCeucQAvD_BwE

The Standard LX101 , Summit Racing is a decent product

The last one I bought a few years back I still have as a spare
Made in Poland

 

[moparedtn]

Those blue "256" units are as rare as hens teeth, I swear....
Got any laying around, Hops?
I personally "grew up" with the ollllld orange box kits sold by Ma Mopar. Nothing wrong with those
old boxes, as others have posted - it's the late 90's ones and on that are wonky quality.

By the way, Accel still makes the tan caps with copper inserts that are a pretty good likeness
of the Mopar ones and they're still seriously heavy duty as well.
All the usual outlets - Summit, etc.

 

[super-bee_ski]

The Standard LX101 , Summit Racing is a decent product

The last one I bought a few years back I still have as a spare
Made in Poland

The Polish ones are wired "Backwards"
1. They are open when off
2. Closed circuit when they are on

 

[Aeronet]

I have a MP Chrome box I got at a salvage yard in the mid '90s. That thing makes a difference. Made in Mexico. I'll be very sad if it ever conks out.

 

[westie47]

After reading through a bunch of threads on this topic, I opted for the HiRev kit from Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-MOPAR-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

However it arrived with the blue ECU and black distributor so I will be contacting the seller.

Also, I notice the box has 4 pins but the engine harness I got from Evans Wiring (modified for electronic ignition) has 5 holes with 5 wires on the connector. Do I need to find a ECU with 5 pins?

 

[451Mopar]

After reading through a bunch of threads on this topic, I opted for the HiRev kit from Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-MOPAR-318-340-360-HiRev-Electronic-Ignition-Kit-Resto-Plymouth-Dodge-Chrys/262714710366?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

However it arrived with the blue ECU and black distributor so I will be contacting the seller.

Also, I notice the box has 4 pins but the engine harness I got from Evans Wiring (modified for electronic ignition) has 5 holes with 5 wires on the connector. Do I need to find a ECU with 5 pins?

The 4-pin unit will work with the 5-pin harness. The one resistor that goes to the original ECU that is part od the dual resistor ballast resistor is just placed inside the ECU with the 4-pin units, so the external resistor is not used, and no fifth pin on the ECU.

I have not tore open a new replacement ECU to see how they are built. The Old Mopar Performance ECUs were built with 1970's through hole component technology and are pretty basic. I would hope that the new generic standard LX101 ECU has been improved over the old Mopar ECUs?

I have CD ignition boxes (MSD, Crane) on my Charger and Coronet. The Jensen still has an original type ECU, but if / when it goes out it will get replaced with a CD box too.

 

[383man]

Here is what I can tell you about my orange MP ECU you see here on my car. I bought it in 1999 and had it on my sons Dart until about 2006. It has worked flawless all these years and I still run it on my 63. My son took it off his Dart when he got MSD and we put it on his Dart. Well his Dart ran the same et and mph and started the same with the MSD as it did with this orange box. So I put it with the Acell Super coil on my 63 in 2006 and its still going strong. And about 5 years ago I decided to take the ballast out of the system and just bypass it because I heard some guys were doing that with the Mopar ign and it was working fine. Well its been running about 5 years with no ballast and working good with just the Acell super coil and the orange ECU. After I ran the car about 1/2 hr after I took the ballast out I felt the coil and it was not hot at all as it was nice and cool. So I felt it was not to much current through the coil and heating it up and it has not been as it works good with this setup. The car never misses a beat as it has run 10.70's like this and I trap about 6400 rpm and it is working great at 6400 rpm. Ron

 

[69/70Plymies]

After reading through a bunch of threads on this topic, I opted for the HiRev kit from Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-MOPAR-318-340-360-HiRev-Electronic-Ignition-Kit-Resto-Plymouth-Dodge-Chrys/262714710366?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

However it arrived with the blue ECU and black distributor so I will be contacting the seller.

Also, I notice the box has 4 pins but the engine harness I got from Evans Wiring (modified for electronic ignition) has 5 holes with 5 wires on the connector. Do I need to find a ECU with 5 pins?

Perhaps? To my understanding, the 4 pin ECU obtains it's power from within itself, thus only needing a 2 spade ballast resistor. This is the later design in electronic ignitions. The 5 pin ECU receives it's power returning from a 4 spade ballast resistor. With that said, check your Evans harness for the two ballast terminals. If EACH terminal has two female connections, the harness is wired for a 4 spade ballast resistor, thus possibly needing a 5 pin ECU.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

If EACH terminal has two female connections, the harness is wired for a 4 spade ballast resistor, thus possibly needing a 5 pin ECU.

Wrong, there is no NEED for 5 pins ECU still with dual ballast setup. 4 pins ECUs will work on any 5 pins setup no matter if you have single or dual ballast. 5 pins ECU gets an external extra source from the secondary resistor while the 4 pins gets it internally. Saying this, once you install a 4 pins ECU onto a 5 pins system you can live with the dual ballast without problem, because the existant secondary resistor source simply even still present will go to nowhere via the green traced red wire ( and blue wire jumper between both blue wires on one of the sides ).

You can convert into a single ballast but there is not reason for that aside clean up the view? Dual ballast are available into 0.5 ohms rate for primary resistor if you want performance without change to a single ballast. But if you still want to become into single ballast, just will need to cut the green wire ( doesn't even need to be isolated ), remove the jumper blue wire and replace the dual plug in both sides for a single female plug on both sides, but if you get a 5 pins ECU later ( for whatever reason, will need to reinstall those, because the ignition system won't work propperly. As far I recall the secondary resistor is a control system source, so the 5 pins ECU with a single ballast could work but not propperly. If I'm wrong on this please experts correct me.

Sharing my experience with MP ECUs... I have used for years the Chrome box, and everyone failed, some within 2 years, some other after a year and one of them just last long couple of months. Transistor it was te culprit ( everyone with the ON branded one ). I made the experiment of replace the transistor once and got success, it worked again. However I already was changed to FBO A688 by the time. It failed after 4 or 6 month of use and decided to go with Rev-N-Nator. Also got the Hi-Rev 7500 which it worked for couple of weeks while I was waiting for the Rev-N-Nator ( wasn't released yet but was on the waiting list. I got the first batch, being the number 20 ). Since It was installed, the Hi-Rev-7500 become on my trunk spare.

I also played with an orange MP box while I was waiting for the Rev-N-Nator for a week. It worked perfect. I could notice the Chromed was a crispier box. I ended selling it for a friend who is building his 69 Charger thought.

A Friend of mine got a Hi-Rev7500 and just last long 3 or 4 months.