I went and picked up my car from Mike D's place today and we noticed that the Mallory CD box was pretty warm after running the car. It wasn't so hot that you couldn't put you hand on it, but it was warm.

Do they normally generate heat?

the shape is an extruded 'heat sink' shape....
ive never actually felt mine, but i wouldnt doubt it gets warm. It is designed with a crap load of fins to help dissipate heat.

drive it till it dies!

Again???

Anybody?

It's gonna get warm ..... it's an electronic component .... have you ever put your hand on a coil after running for a while?

My Bosch unit gets warm .... why should your glorified CDI unit be any different?

And yes, I am Anybody!

I had one on a '82 RX-7 and it got hotter than I thought it would. Remember it's taking 12 volts and turning into 20,000 or so. Put your hand on a transformer and let us know how hot it is. It's a similar function. Step up or step down voltage.

An analog MSD box will get hot enough that you can't touch it for more than a half a second or so. IN A RACE CAR.

Don't know about the digital Mallory box.

Clayton

Should get pretty warm in the scorching summer.

Why would you want to touch any high-voltage electrical component? Hand-held IR meter works best.

I think in the manual they list an operating temp and max before damage is done to the box components inside.