As an electrician, I've been shocked and zapped quite a few times. But the other day I was wiggling my plug wires with the car running because I thought they were loose, and the insulation came off at the bottom and shocked the shit out of me. It hurt pretty badly, worse than any 120v shock I've ever taken.

I see on the specs of the MSD coil that it has a "Maximum voltage: 36,000 volts".

I still have the stocker, and I was wondering how many volts it produces, or sends down the wires.

Anywhere between 30-50,000 volts. I'm sorry it was such a "shocker" and surprised you.
I've been "bit" many times,

Cut'n Paste from the FSM "The direct ignition system generates approximately 40,000 volts". The ignition system check are recommended by resistance. Primary coil resistance standard value: 0.51-0.61 ohms, secondary coil resistance standard value: 11.5-13.5 kohms, & spark plug cable resisance limit max. 8 kohms.

Mello said:

"The direct ignition system generates approximately 40,000 volts"

Click to expand...

Hmmm. If this is the case, then the MSD would be a down-grade?

I've always felt Mitsubishi gave us a really good ignition system that is not easy to improve with aftermarket options. And yes, I don't think the MSD's are better than OEM in good working condition. I also like many of the benefits of inductive systems over the capacitive systems too. Here's the excerpt pages from FSM for you.

No wonder

Mello said:

I've always felt Mitsubishi gave us a really good ignition system that is not easy to improve with aftermarket options. And yes, I don't think the MSD's are better than OEM in good working condition. I also like many of the benefits of inductive systems over the capacitive systems too. Here's the excerpt pages from FSM for you.

Click to expand...

Looks like I'm keeping the stock coil pack after all.

BLACK'98DSM said:

Looks like I'm keeping the stock coil pack after all.

Click to expand...

I had a Neon years ago that I put an MSD coil on and could tell immediately that the stock coil produced a better spark. The car felt down on power and sluggish (even more so than normal). I swapped the coil back to the OEM unit and the MSD coil was tosses in the spare parts box in my garage.. It may still even be in that same box come to think of it..

An aftermarket cdi box will send more power (wattage) to your coils through an increase in amperage and boosted voltage, that would in theory give you a better (hotter longer duration) spark, with a MSD box or a similar one you can easily get shocked from the coil input (there would be hundreds of volts applied vs 12v) as well as the output, and it can potentially hurt you bad enough to cause heart fibrillation/death, you have to be super careful around modern ignition systems.

@motomattx I can't completely agree.
"The drawback on a traditional CD system is that although the spark is extremely hot, it is of shorter duration than the spark produced by an inductive system. This is primarily a problem at lower rpm when the combustion process is slower and fuel mixture is typically richer. New generation auto ignitions are designed for more accuracy, better efficiency and reliability. This includes" crank angle" sensors to improve timing and fuel injection accuracy (example, mounting the Hall sensor and magnets on the flywheel). Newer coils will be wound around an "E" shaped pole (not "center wound"). They will look like a square module and not the round cylinder you've seen all these years."
DSM distributorless ignition systems are dope & comparable to many CDI systems. For example Holley's MSD DIS-4 Plus High Output specs Secondary Voltage 43,000 Volts.

Mello said:

@motomattx I can't completely agree.
"The drawback on a traditional CD system is that although the spark is extremely hot, it is of shorter duration than the spark produced by an inductive system. This is primarily a problem at lower rpm when the combustion process is slower and fuel mixture is typically richer. New generation auto ignitions are designed for more accuracy, better efficiency and reliability. This includes" crank angle" sensors to improve timing and fuel injection accuracy (example, mounting the Hall sensor and magnets on the flywheel). Newer coils will be wound around an "E" shaped pole (not "center wound"). They will look like a square module and not the round cylinder you've seen all these years."
DSM distributorless ignition systems are dope & comparable to many CDI systems. For example Holley's MSD DIS-4 Plus High Output specs Secondary Voltage 43,000 Volts.

Click to expand...

However, the Msd box uses multistrike, as does the Arc2 box, so actually a longer lasting spark in the chamber, technically not a longer duration spark, but we dont need to get technical here, its a longer time that there is spark in the chamber and a higher energy one at that.