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No. I'm saying that for someone else who likely has no wire or factory connectors (and is just looking to get a functional ignition system into an abused woods vehicle) that may well never be registered for the road again, it is a fool's errand to even try to recreate a one year only harness. When, for the price of a decent set of spark plug wires you can get: a distributor, coil, rotor, cap AND wires, as well as a socketed relay w/ pigtail. With this he could have that truck running in an hour.

But THIS truck isn't butchered. I'm still not sure what is wrong with the distributor it has... The firewood truck is a different case entirely, and being a "One Year Wonder" like mine, any kind of harness is going to be problematic. I'd offered Mike Kleeman a bunch of good advice when he mashed up the '87 460 dump truck with the diesel F-450 (Super duty) a dilapidated wrecker and another Huck. But the round bulkhead connector AND any DS-II harness is a very unique animal. Trying to build an entire under hood harness -starting from nothing- is not for the faint hearted. There's no charge & power distribution. No lighting harness, no sensors or senders, no starter wiring. .....Nothing! And in that case you'd have to be not only a lunatic, but a masochist, to go that route for a flatbed trail beater.

That's kind of why I wanted to put the muffler in the spot where the converter normally goes. I did something similar on a long-bed '85 Ranger and it worked out nicely. I'll have to eye-ball it once the drivetrain is in and I can mock something up. I was really just wondering if anyone else had any experience doing something similar. I really think we need a F.O.G. subsection when the forum moves to the new platform! 😉 It's just so much more capable of handling requests like this.

Joe has a 351 HO so he can even use '87 250/350 parts. It all depends on why the old dizzy is broken, and how much of the existing Flareside wiring is still intact. 👍

Edit: I stand corrected. I'm confusing two separate projects, and I apologize! This sometimes happens when the OP gives no backstory, or details of their diagnosis.... You could spend months and thousands putting it back to where it was, or you can spend ~$65 to have it running and doing the job it was bought for.🤔 Man, tribalism is an enigma to me.......😆

Here's an interesting video:

The HEI is a power hog and will absolutely cut out if it doesn't get what it needs. The Duraspark coil otoh is powered through a resistor in run, and ohms law tells us that resistance changes with current and voltage. To some extent it's a 'self regulating' system. Solid state modules (either flavour) are never running at 14.4, or 12.6V. though they are switching system voltage hundreds of times a second to fire the coil. You're in semi. You have to know all this.

You can go straight back to stock DS-II. If you can't, then choose your battles wisely.

Please explain how your alternator problems affect the ignition. Which alternator are you talking about? Why not just shorten the sense wire and connect it to the output, making it inches long?

You definitely have to be aware how bulky it is to have the coil and everything else built in.with 460's I haven't had issues with the air cleaner, but sometimes you need a different water neck without all the thermal vacuum switches. This might be a problem if you're keeping EGR, but obviously the vacuum advance one doesn't matter. Also, you can rig spark retard with a transistor and the 5 pin module from a 1980 Tornado if you feel the starter is sluggish...

That changes everything, and thanks for reminding me, Jim. In that case it is HEI for me. As Jim said, a relay and some wire and Bob's your uncle. Well, skip White only seems to offer an HEI for the I-6 these days... 🙃 There are a bunch on Amazon, and Amazon really seem to have a no bs guarantee. There are some offered w/ plug wires and tach harness. Id probably go for a package with plug wires and tach connection than buy everything piecemeal. I would definitely not waste my time & $ on a 'branded' unit from the same child labour factory.

I wish Bill would tell us how he really feels and not hold back. Personally, the HEI dizzy doesn't scare me. But it is so easy to just use a DS-II dizzy and module, so why not stay Ford? I'd only go HEI if I didn't have the wiring harness, dizzy, or module. Edit: my bad. "New" user revived his old username and I am focused on too many things at once. Sorry!

I've never played with this kind of software. Eagle was game changing back in my day.

People have a hard time accepting that Joe Lucas was right....

The universe works in mysterious ways! 🤣

Well, I wish I was skinny, sometimes... But y'all came together and got that truck started! This is a shining example of the vision Gary has for the forum. Dave comes from "the toe" of CT and worked at the same hospital my grandmother did for decades. It's a much smaller world than many of us may think. 💡

I'm kinda sad my baby brother sold his hobby farm in Siler City.... Would love to meet you guys. Be aware that there's a good truck junk yard in the area...

Progress is Gooood! While under my truck the other day I noticed my 'Brand New' rear tank is all stoved in. I was jacking on the pumpkin a week back and the jack wouldn't roll because it sank into my brother's hot driveway. Of course the cradle comes back as it rises, and the front wheels were chocked..... I was behind the bumper because I needed all the leverage I could get, and didn't notice until it fell right off! I -also- didn't notice the spare shaped dent in the tank! For obvious reasons.... Anyway, I'm glad the springs were pointed out to you, and you have a real set so you can do away with jankey riser blocks.

Oh. You said super caB... Do you want to keep the extra cab, and just use the short box? We're wading dangerously close to modern 4 door trucks with an open trunk, like a Ridgeline. 😆 I don't know if there's room for the 19 gallon mid-ship tank in that configuration, or even where the wheelbase would end up.

Welcome to the forum! I'm not sure you'd need any kind of "kit" You need a 16 gallon side tank, a cutting & welding rig and to bring your driveshaft to a shop to cut about 16" out and re-balance it At least I think a regular truck is 133" wb and a Flareside/short box is 117. Fuel & brake lines are easy enough to shorten. You could probably get away with making a loop in the electrical harness. 💡

That's what happens when you have M&A's by Capital Investment groups or other entities that know nothing and have no passion for anything but profit. They go with the cheapest offshore vendor, fire everyone who raises alarm or points out the flaws. It's happened with Comp, Holley, Prestolite, you name it. Hell, just look at Boeing. They completely lost all credibility when they moved to Chicago. There are astronauts stranded on the space station, hundreds of passengers killed in Max8 crashes that were not only avoidable, but vigorously warned about by engineers that built the anti-stall system, but didn't write the software that override the pilots control inputs. There's even the former QC officer who gave a deposition, but mysteriously 'un-alived' himself in Charleston the night before he was to testify about 787 production flaws.

Bill Vose has a later interior/dash in his crewcab dually, Darth. I'm sure he has the details of putting the later steering shaft and heater/AC box from the Giving Truck into an older cab. So, I'd imagine that the reverse is possible without crazy fabrication, but I don't know all the details. I could ping him to this thread 💡

Three members.... 🙄 Welcome Bob, glad to have another Ford fan in our ranks!

6 & 10 seconds, that I know of.

I've never had a problem, but perhaps that's because I'm painfully aware of the incongruous?