Mopar orange igintion box

[Shane Kelley]

Be aware or beware. Whichever way you want to put it. I just wanted to share a couple of first hand experiences I have had with them. The first situation I had was with a new conversion kit I had bought for my Cuda in 2012. Put it on and was constantly having to fiddle with the timing. I was setting it by ear. I would have it running fine sitting in the driveway and then while I was driving I could tell something was changing. Hop out at a parking lot and move the distributor where is was running fine again. This kept going on. So I finally put a timing light on it. It was reading 65 degrees advance while starting and running fine. No way that's possible but that's what it was reading. I switched out the orange box for the chrome one. BAM! Set the timing at 38 degrees total and it ran perfect and consistent.
Second situation. I bought a 71 Rad Runner with the conversion kit on it. The car had some sorting out needing done and ran like crap. Somebody had actually stripped out the metering blocks where the jets go on a really nice Demon carb. I went through everything and went ahead and installed a new chrome box, carb, tune up, wiring harnesses and the car ran great. On the way to work a couple weeks ago it was acting like it was trying to die and lose spark. Made it to work barely. Wouldn't fire back up once I was there. Check for spark. None! I'm thinking bad control box right off the bat.  I stick the orange one that came on the car back on. Still no spark. Ended up changing the coil. Bingo! Good to go. Then one day I go to let it rip and chew some tires. Car wouldn't hardly get any rubber. Ran and started fine but was a pig off the line. I threw the chrome box back on. Guess what?   Yep. Big power gain. Keep this in mind if your running a orange box. Both these are 340 cars.

[fc7cuda]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I've had/seen ECU go bad no mater what color/make.  Straight outta the box sounds like a defect 

I'm currently running the orange one, been fine for years but I do carry a backup in the trunk with afew other parts. 

[blown motor]

Have you tried a Rev-N-Nator? I've run one for 3 or 4 years now. Works great.

http://thertgarage.com/products.html

[Cuda Cody]

I've had good luck with the Rev-N-Nator too, but I think any box can have trouble.  Thanks for sharing your experience as it's a good place to look when trouble starts happening.

[7212Mopar]

Another happy user of the Rev nator. It will remain in my car when I put my engine back in. I have the earlier version that required bypassing the electric choke when cranking. Electric choke can turn back on after engine is running. Current version suppose not have this problem.

[RUNCHARGER]

The orange boxes were okay up until 10 or so years ago. Since then they are totally unreliable. I run Chrome boxes but even then I carry a spare in the glovebox along with another ballast resistor. I think MSD is superior but a lot more pricey and they can fail too.
It's amazing with all the electronics improvements over the decades that the ECU's 40 years ago were more reliable than ones made today.

[1 Wild R/T]

The orange boxes were okay up until 10 or so years ago. Since then they are totally unreliable. I run Chrome boxes but even then I carry a spare in the glovebox along with another ballast resistor. I think MSD is superior but a lot more pricey and they can fail too.
It's amazing with all the electronics improvements over the decades that the ECU's 40 years ago were more reliable than ones made today.

I've had less than great luck with orange boxes starting in the 80's.... In the 70's the DC electronic ignition came with a chrome box & it worked flawlessly... If I were gonna run a Chrysler electronic ignition I'd definitely run the chrome box....

[HP_Cuda]

Orange boxes are hit or miss nowadays but then again these issues are commonly known.

[61K T/A]

in another thread/post last week some one said the orange boxes are filled with sand.

[Spikedog08]

So I have a friend that works at Mancini Racing and while at a show, I was talking about orange boxes and some of the issues I was having.  He told me to go and look at the box I had installed and make sure there is a "mopar performance part" sticker on it.  If not it is probably a poor reproduction . . . Sure enough, I had the cheap one.   I didn't have much luck with the chrome one either . . .

So the good orange boxes have an orange sticker with the part number and "mopar performance parts" on the front. 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I've been running the same orange box for 10 years.... (prolly just cursed my luck) 

[70/6chall]

Back in the 80's after changing points on the old six I decided to make the change to elect. Ign. So I bought a complete elect. distributor kit from the dealership for a 225. Came with the orange box, I really noticed a positive change in how it ran, especially a steady run on the freeway, no pulling back or missing along with an Accel H.O. Coil. Ran great every day as a daily driver until the late 90's, than it started running a little raggedy. A trip to Bob Mazzolini's here in town secured me another orange box ($36.) that one is still in it and it runs very well.   Thanks,   Al

[Shoooter]

Runcharger do you have any extra boxes? You are only a few hr from me

[RUNCHARGER]

Unfortunately not right now. I am down to one new chrome box. I have a cool vintage MSD 5C that has less than 500 miles on it though. The C denotes that it has the Chrysler plug on it.

[Chryco Psycho]

I've been running the same orange box for 10 years.... (prolly just cursed my luck) 

I would think the older ones are better quality then the newer ones