Crank Trigger

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by js72mav

Thanks for the feedback guys. I understand what you guys are saying and agree. I just wanted to make sure I was thinking right. Right now I just have a locked out billet dist. but I am going to put on the crank trigger. I was just curious about if there is any actual horsepower gain or just stability in the timing. Thanks again!!!!!!!

Jamie S.

I put one on the SS 396, and saw a considerable improvement in timing stability and some small improvement in performance, and we already had the best state of the art distributor based system MSD has.

[1320racer]

Jamie, you made your decision about your car and your money, good for you. Me, I must be doing something wrong when a guy with a mid 11 second car is convinced based on the opinions he reads on an internet forum that the addition of a crank trigger will reward him with quicker and or faster MPH on the time slip due to "more stable, rocky steady" timing yet I've got about 4000 10 second time slips, 1000 9.0x time slips and numerous 8 second time slips from two BBC combos with billet distributors that every time I've set the timing it too is steady at RPM. Further, the clamp has never loosened, the timing has never changed due to oil viscosity and temp and never in over 2 decades have I had to constantly monitor a distributor for fear of component wear but wait, it gets more crazy...the MSD billet distributor in my 950HP BBC has ~ 18 degrees of mechanical advance in it. Yep, you read right, it is NOT locked out yet somehow, I'm able to make pass after pass after pass where my 60 foots and ETs typically vary thousanths(.00x) on any given day. Guess I'm just lucky or maybe all this talk about more stable timing means NOTHING on the time slip with engines like yours and mine.

Again, Jamie, your car, your money, your time, your decision.

[Jim Kaekel]

Hey 1320, turn off your computer and turn on your TV! "Pinks" is on again.

[joespanova]

Ed , are you quoting ME? I never said I put one on because I thought it'd run quicker.
I did imply there was some timing variation ,although insignificant...............I just put one on because , well , because..........LOL

I wasn't going to join this but I figured I would stick in my 2 cents. I had a problem with with my engine in the begining of my race season with a high speed miss above 6500. I chased the normal things, but wound up with a cam profile issue that caused destabilization in the valvetrain above the rpm stated above rpm. After a cam change my problem was solved. One of the conditions that was resolved was the timing jumping around while trying to set it. My issue is a small base circle cast cam core that was flexing with the aggressive lobe. The new cam had a different lobe and a slightly bigger base circle and cam core. I figure my cam was flexing and this was the reason for the timing variation.
I can see benifets to a crank trigger, when you are running very aggressive roller cams with alot of spring pressure causing cam flex in certain circumstances, and timing variation. With a crank trigger you eleminate a few parts that can cause an issue, nothing is more accurate than taking a signal off of the crankshaft. If you have a big enough cam core, and the right lobe design for what your trying to do, I'm sure a distributor will work well. I'm not really sure you will any ET in one over a good distributor. But I'm sure it won't slow you down. Your mileage may varry. Good luck.

[Signman]

Leave your distributor installed ready to go after setting up the crank trigger. It will serve as a backup.

[Tom keedle]

Originally Posted by Todd Hoven

I wasn't going to join this but I figured I would stick in my 2 cents. I had a problem with with my engine in the begining of my race season with a high speed miss above 6500. I chased the normal things, but wound up with a cam profile issue that caused destabilization in the valvetrain above the rpm stated above rpm. After a cam change my problem was solved. One of the conditions that was resolved was the timing jumping around while trying to set it. My issue is a small base circle cast cam core that was flexing with the aggressive lobe. The new cam had a different lobe and a slightly bigger base circle and cam core. I figure my cam was flexing and this was the reason for the timing variation.
I can see benifets to a crank trigger, when you are running very aggressive roller cams with alot of spring pressure causing cam flex in certain circumstances, and timing variation. With a crank trigger you eleminate a few parts that can cause an issue, nothing is more accurate than taking a signal off of the crankshaft. If you have a big enough cam core, and the right lobe design for what your trying to do, I'm sure a distributor will work well. I'm not really sure you will any ET in one over a good distributor. But I'm sure it won't slow you down. Your mileage may varry. Good luck.

now, if your distributor was at the FRONT of the engine, you wouldn't have had this problem,correct?

Originally Posted by Tom keedle

now, if your distributor was at the FRONT of the engine, you wouldn't have had this problem,correct?

I'm sure I wouldnt.

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by Todd Hoven

I can see benifets to a crank trigger, when you are running very aggressive roller cams with alot of spring pressure causing cam flex in certain circumstances, and timing variation.

Todd, I'm pretty sure my cam with over .800 lift and 30 degree intensity and spring pressure falls under what you might call..."very aggressive roller cams with alot of spring pressure" with . Now IF my cam is flexing(standard BBC core btw) and my timing varying, it's doing it exactly the same every pass on any given day, 36 weekends a seeaon, 250+ passes a season because it ain't showing on the time slip with runs that typically vary thousanths from pass to pass.

BTW, I also run 3/8" .080 wall, 1 piece pushrods and ain't ever broke a pushrod in any of my race engines EVER!

[Jim Kaekel]

BTW, I also run 3/8" .080 wall, 1 piece pushrods and ain't ever broke a pushrod in any of my race engines EVER![/QUOTE]

There's a statement that shows your complete ignorance. Pushrods flex a helluva lot before they break. I would think that a 7/16" x .120" wall pushrod in your car would pick up some HP and I'm surely not "Grumpy" Jenkins.