I'm interested in buying a good or new old stock CD unit for my 914-6. I'm also thinking about a new MSD unit, which typically sells for a lot less. Anyone out there use an MSD ignition system in their car? Aside from the unit itself and the coil, what else will I need to do or buy?

I prefer the Mallory VI AL for my cars because it has a rheostat to adjust the rev limiter vs. the MSD "pills". You can use both units with a Bosch Blue Coil, but would do better with a higher power unit.

Unless you need or want to make major changes, I'd suggest just picking up a good used or rebuilt Bosch CD box. There are 3-pin boxes for sale on the Pelican 911 classifieds all the time. (I actually have a couple myself but I'm hanging onto them for now.)

What you need to know, the MSD is no longer multiple spark after i think 4K rpm. Good for muscle cars, but i'm not so sure about high revving pancakes. I know Mallory is the fav here, but i had a unilite once. What a POS.

In my opinion you can't really go wrong with OEM,MSD,or Mallory. I went with Mallory mainly because it is digital technology vs. analog of the MSD. And I found a good price on EBAY about a year ago so I bought two. I think you should always have two having one as a spare ready to go. So if you go aftermarket the second one should have the wiring ends ready to go so IF one goes bad you can quickly make the swap. May seem extreme but it will give you minimal down time if it goes bad. Multiple spark in theory will help with plug fouling if running carbs ( I am ) and you can open up the plug gap which supposedly helps with combustion. Which ever you pick as long as it's reliable life is good.

I'll sell/trade you a 3-pin Permatune cheap.

Isn't someone rebuilding Bosch CD units with Permatune guts to keep the correct vintage look?

I would think a rebuilder of these would use Bosch parts or other quality parts rather than Permatune. There are many folks ( right or wrong ) that say Permatune are crap.