8973 set up help

1. With the shielded crank cable you should be no closer than 6". Try and keep the cable on the underside of tubing so it is somewhat shielded. Make sure that shielded ground wire goes to chassis ground.

2. That is correct.

3. When you fire the motor the 8973 is using the Run Retard Curve graph until you apply a momentary 12 volts to the blue wire and it changes to the Launch Retard Curve graph. If both the Launch and Run Retard curves graphs have zero retard in them you will not see any timing difference. Just a momentary 12 volts to the blue wire or you can leave 12 volts on it for a while if it comes from the clutch switch. Just as long as the 12 volts goes away from the blue wire at the moment of launch. That 12 volts being on the blue wire also energizes the Two Step and the release of the 12 volts activates the Launch Retard. The easiest way to handle the timing is to wire up one of the Step Retards to a constant 12 volts anytime the 8973 has power. So if you used Step Retard #3 and have it energized all the time then you can use it like a Timing Chip. If you start the motor and put the timing light on it and it reads 40* then put 4* retard into Step Retard #3 so it retards back to 36*. Now any time you check the timing and it is off rather than moving the crank trigger just change the required degrees in Step Retard #3. This makes life easier. If you just had a Pro Mag 44 without the crank trigger then you can do the same thing so you don't have to turn that mag with the motor running and get zapped.

If the 8973 fails the motor shuts down because the ProMag Electronic Points Box shuts down.

4. I run ours with a crank trigger in MagComp in DegAUTO and I have never worried about that 4*. Forget the 4* and act like it is not there. As soon as you adjust the timing it is gone.

5. Take the voltage for he capacitator from the distribution block on floor board

If you have alread have the mag timed for 36* and you set up the crank trigger and either adjust it to 36* with a timing light or adjust Step Retard #3 so you have 36* with a timing light then the rotor phasing of the mag will be right on.

Make sure Start Retard has zero degrees in it.

Without the motor running and 12 volts turned on to the 8973 have a laptop hooked up to the 8973 and check the "MONITORS"" area in the upper left quadrant of the screen. It will tell you if any retards are on or off and other nice things about the 8973. If you use Step Retard #3 as a timing chip then ot will show that Step Retard #3 is turned on. You can also watch the MONITORS section when the motor is running to make sure everything is good.

 

steps

Here are my recommended steps:

1. Leave 8973 in box it was shipped, complete with packing material.

1 a. If installed, uninstall and place back in box it was shipped.

2. Go to www.insidetopalcohol.com and place an ad on free classifieds for nearly new 8973 box. You may have to take a small hit on what you paid for it. Realize that you are potentially saving much more than what you are losing.

3. Place an ad on that same website's classifieds looking for a used six shooter set up. You should be able to find a used leahy controller box, which is as easy as setting your alarm clock.

4. Install six shooter and whatever controller you buy. Set the trigger to the timing you're actually going to run. Stage 1 of the six shooter needs to be the amount of retard on the button and then stages 2-6 are retard stages.

5. No need to lug lap top around to make last minute changes. No cumbersome software to interpret what a certain retard is really going to do.

6. Yes, these things eat Pro Mod motors too. Ask Wesley Jones about his last run in Dallas where he nearly burnt the car to the ground after it pushed the head gaskets out on all 4 corners of the motor, with the same tuneup as he usually runs.

Good luck Howard, and if you need any help, don't hesistate to give me a call.

 

Will there can be numous reasons why a motor blows and it does not have to be the 8973. That logic is silly. It seems like you are the only one that really thinks he has had problems with the 8973 and I believe as you stated that was because you failed to use a shielded crank trigger cable. The one or two other racers that you keep on quoting that had problems were so long ago and you never give specifics. There are so many FCs and ProMods all over the world running the 8973 for years now without problems. Like I said before it can't do things that it is not designed to do. Maybe your 8973 had it in for you and those ones and zeros all changed to twos just to spite you or in was taken over by aliens.

If you feel the 8973 is too complicated for you then maybe the six shooter is better for you but the rest of us can handle it and use it correctly. I have seen guys have loads of problems getting six shooters to work correctly also but that doesn't mean that the six shooter is bad.

 

trigger

for the record, all cars i've ever been associated with have the leahy trigger, which is shielded.

name all of the tafc's running well with one...

i can handle the software, i really wish it worked. it's nice to be able to plot a curve on a graph rather than use the chips. however, it's not the most user-friendly software ever created, and i'm a computer guy. i can imagine someone who barely knows how to turn the computer on trying to program their box.

i'm done arguing about it. that's just my opinion.

 

That's good Stan (LMAOROTF)

 

We use a Two Step from the 8973 with our blown motor. It is down all the time in ProMods. The 8973 uses what they call a softtouch rev limiter that is not as bad as a regular Two Step. We push the throttle so that it just starts hitting the limiter on prestage light and once both stage lights are on it is to the floor on the Two Step holding at 5000 RPM making 27 lbs of boost.....