Black box on dist?

What does the black box on the dist do? I have fried 2 brains in the dist and its really bugging me. Also i get 12 volts on both sides of the coil? Whats up with that? Im out of brains and im not gonna buy a new one to fry it.

the small black box the size of a postage stamp?That is a noise suppressor for the radio.bj

Thanks for the response. Ended up gutting the distributor and going with the MSD 6A box. It runs like a top now. Anyone not running the MSD with the 2.2 is LOSING hp. MSD FTMFW!

do you have to gut the distributor to run the msd 6a?still having problems with it dying on start up and idle.also heard to remove the condenser?

post up some pixels dirty

Well i run one on my other truck with no problems for the last 4 years. Now with the new truck i smoked 2 brains and i was only running the msd coil. I didnt have the black box or the silver box hooked up. So i took the brain out and when you do you see the 2 prongs that plug into the pickup on the dist. I broke the brain up to get the little prongs be carefull they go sideways in the plastic. I broke it all and then i soldered some wire onto them then plug back in. Then when you use the msd box you use the purple and green pickup wires and tape up the white wire. So you have main power to msd (red) then you have the red ign wire hook that to the big black wire with white stripe. Ground the msd also then hook the orange wire to pos side of coil and the black to neg side. No other wires to the coil and make sure the purple and green wire are shielded from any other power wires. I will make sure what color goes were on the dist because it does matter, if hooked up backwards it will run but sputter. I will get pics soon right now i really need to clean my garage its got way out of hand!!! Oh ya when you fire that beast you will be able to not only feel the diff on the pedal but it will sound better... Oh ya when you break up the brain save both ends you have to use them to space the pickup in the dist so it sits right!!

kinda sounds confusing but i think the problem is......i was using the white wire to trigger the msd.i didnt know we used the magnetic pickup,also what silver box?secondly i have two wires hooke up to the 12v small red,both black and white,should i use only one cause it seems it only runs with both.definately some pics man,i almost ditched the damn thing and swapped it for some rims (werent that nice anywayz).

Ok here are some pics. If i was hooking up a msd box i would do it this way. I think the stock brains on the mazdas dont like the extra spark. This is what it looks like when its done. Notice the spacers under each side of the pickup i broke those off the end of the brains so the pickup was spaced right. Here are 2 dead ones that i tore apart for pics. See the 2 contacts coming out of the brain those are what you need to get. Ok here is what is left of the brain notice how the contacts turn 90 deg so be carefull when breaking them out of the plastic. Then i soldered wire to then and put heat shrink on them. The orange wire that i used goes to the purple pickup wire and the black goes to the green one.

You do use the white wire the way you were doing it, its only if you do it the way above then the white is not used you use the plug in on the msd that is for mag pickup.

did you try the white wire points method?any problems with that setup?like i stated above it dies at idle otherwise gas it all the time.im using the stock coil.would a flooding carb cause this?whyd you go the magnetic route?

The mag pickup is in the dist. The orange and black goto the purple and green pickup wires coimg from the msd box. They should be a short set coming off the msd box with a plug on the end. Those only get used is using a msd dist with mag pickup OR if you modifiy your dist to be run as a mag pickup wich is what i did so now i use those 2 wires. It makes it a better pickup than using the stock brain in the dist. If you bought the msd new there should be a jumper in there for doing this, it has the plug on one end then about 4" wire and 2 spade connectors. I have the stock type setup on my other mazda with no problems, i left the black box hooked up on that one and i run a msd coil. The msd box might be a bit much for the stock coil!