Hydra Nemesis 2 Ignition Installation Instructions

Nemesis Installation	Troubleshooting Primer	Nemesis Tuning Primer
Wideband Installation	Boost Control Installation	Ignition Installation

MSD 6 Series Ignition Systems

Any of the MSD 6 series ignition systems can be easily used to support power levels above those that the stock ignition system can reliably handle. It is suggested that you purchase an MSD 6 series system along with a suitable coil such as the MSD blaster coil and the MSD 8920 tachometer adapter if you intend to continue using the stock tachometer. The following diagram shows the basic wiring setup required:

The first step is to remove the stock igniter and coil and to mount the MSD box and coil. An ignition wire will usually have to be fabricated to connect the new coil to the distributor cap. The coil should be mounted inside the engine bay to prevent electrical interference produced when the coil fires from reaching the Hydra Nemesis 2 unit. The MSD box and the 8920 tachometer adapter are usually best mounted in the trunk to keep them from overheating. There is a nice nook on the left side of the trunk that can be accessed if you peel back the trunk liner to avoid taking up any of the trunk space.

The heavy red and black wires on the MSD boxes provide unswitched power to the ignition system. The heavy red wire should be routed to the engine bay fuse box and connected to the main power line between the battery and the alternator which is under the red rubber boot. The heavy black wire should be grounded to any suitable point on the chassis. Follow the instructions provided with the MSD box on how to wire the box to the coil. The MSD systems provide several wires for triggering the ignition. The proper wire to use is the white wire. This wire should be connected directly to the C12 pin on the large blue connector going to the side of the Hydra Nemesis 2 unit. On some systems there is already a wire wire with a space connector attached to the C12 pin of the connector. On newer systems, the is a white wire with a pin on one end and a space connector on the other provided with the system. If this is the case, disconnect the larger blue connector from the Hydra Nemesis 2 unit and pull off the clip to the D-row of the connector. Push the pin for the white wire into the C12 hole. Plug the connector back into the Hydra Nemesis 2 unit. Connect the white wire from the MSD box to the spade connector from the white C12 wire. The thin red wire from the MSD box should be connected to the red wire that comes from the plug and play box and has a spade connector attached to it for this purpose. Note that the red wire from the 8920 tach adapter box will also need to be connected to this red wire. There is a tachometer output terminal on the side of the MSD box that should be connected to the white wire on the tach adapter. The black wire from the tach adapter must be grounded to any suitable chassis ground point. Finally, the purple or violet wire from the tach adapter must be routed into the engine bay and spliced into the solid black wire on the stock igniter connector.

Before testing the system, make sure that all the unused connectors that used to connect to the stock igniter and coil are properly wrapped with electrical tape to prevent possible short circuits. On most MSD boxes, there are two wire loops that must be cut to select 4 cylinder operation. Other MSD systems provide rev limiters that need to be properly programmed. Read through the MSD installation manual and take care of these details before turning on the ignition key and attempting to start the engine.

DIY Tach Adapter

If you are using an MSD ignition and a MSD 8920 Tach Adapter is not available, a suitable adapter can be constructed from several Radio Shack parts. You will need a 1N4003 diode, a 1K 1/2 watt resistor and 4.7K 1/2 watt resistor. Connect the parts to the negative side of the coil as show:

Note that the 1N4003 diode has a stripe and that the direction of the stripe is very important. The resistors have no particular order, so either side works just as well. Be sure that you connect the adapter to the negative side of the coil which on MSD 6 series boxes will be the black wire, not the orange. To properly finish off the circuit, either enclose it in a small plastic project box (also available at Radio Shack) or at the very least slide some heat shrink tubing over it and heat it up to shrink it tightly closed.