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Stark contrast to T Doorly's posts the other day about how helpful and considerate the members of the forum are. Maybe a response to the tongue out smiley??? While I can be pedantic and know that Ford built a compliant and reliable system, I also know that sometimes the stars don't align. The "right" parts are out of reach or simply unavailable. I attempted to directly address the questions in the first post, while acknowledging Bill's reservations about 'globally sourced' parts. Sad to see William go, and I wish him the best with his project, whatever path he chooses.

That looks amazing! It also looks like a lot of tedious work Great job.

William. You're not being difficult or even too lost. You've already committed to a carb and intake, so I don't think there's any going back. But again, I'm not sure of your situation or regulations. Do what you want or need to do. Again, I'm sorry if I posted a bad link to the earlier short shaft dizzys. Check out the four links I posted. Same item, two different sellers, with storefronts on Amazon and eBay. Sure "Chinese" but $100-120 is a deal and I have watched these products get better and better over the years. I think going the 'all in one' route would be easiest given what you say. It really is only one wire controlled by a relay. ... unless you have a tach, and then you need to connect that green wire to a second plug beneath the distributor. For vacuum advance of the timing you have a choice of 'ported' or 'manifold' vacuum. Ported vacuum would come from the carburetor and manifold vacuum would come from an inlet runner or the junction block on the firewall beneath the cowl. Ported vacuum is zero at closed throttle, where Manifold is full. There are pros and cons to each.. You seem comfortable with wiring, so you should order a "Bosch style" cube relay and a pigtail socket with integral mounting tab. Again, Amazon or eBay around $10 for the set. The existing coil wire would trigger the relay and power would come from the always hot side of the starter relay via a 10-12 Ga wire. Power to 30, new distributor to 87, coil trigger to 85 and 86 to ground. Hope this helps.

Yup, but he says he wants a one wire dizzy at an affordable price, and that there are no junkyards to pick from. So I link what he asked for. If it gets his Bronco back on the road or trails it's all good.

I'm going to try and log out of eBay and Amazon and then pull up the items in my browser. Let's see if this works.... https://www.ebay.com/itm/A-TEAM-HEI-DISTRIBUTOR-FORD-240-and-300-ENGINES-BLUE-CAP-F100-F150-F250-E150-/262671083747?redirect=mobile https://www.ebay.com/i/191838774982?chn=ps&ul_ref=https%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fi%25252F191838774982%25253Fchn%25253Dps%2526itemid%253D191838774982%2526targetid%253D593772395653%2526device%253Dt%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D9003452%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D1661457327%2526adgroupid%253D63612800546%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-593772395653%2526abcId%253D1140466%2526merchantid%253D8298174%2526gclid%253DCj0KCQiA68bhBRCKARIsABYUGicvIJb-vkq-LmzVlr3a6PSDHEb_FzxzVtSLtSloUn4_vkReVru1r9oaAm95EALw_wcB%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1810012423829%2526rvr_ts%253D25cd3e891680ac3ca59669c7fff09bd3 https://www.amazon.com/HEI-DISTRIBUTOR-FORD-ENGINES-BLUE/dp/B01CH23N2U https://www.amazon.com/Team-Performance-Distributor-Compatible-Instillation/dp/B073WM92CQ/ref=pd_cp_263_1?pd_rd_w=WUrWt&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=FMW9AMPBPEAHP19BEY32&pd_rd_r=cc4efda9-1216-11e9-aa93-791c7bad081c&pd_rd_wg=OjHl6&pd_rd_i=B073WM92CQ&psc=1&refRID=FMW9AMPBPEAHP19BEY32

Bill, I can find them. Linking from the Amazon or eBay app on my phone needs some kind of workaround. Because this forum is not privy to my history in those apps. (as it should be) I personally think Williams 500cfm carb is way too big for for the application. Largest I've gone on a 300 is the somewhat obscure 435 cfm 4160, and that was on a decked, cammed and bored 300 with an Offy intake and EFI manifolds. It was ok but still seemed a bit soft even with a lot of tuning of secondary springs. You would know better than me

What you want exists. I'm sorry to have posted a link to the other Ford I-6 series. It's a bit hard to navigate between pages and links on my phone in the reply window. You need a distributor for a 2.9 or 4.9L engine aka 240 or 300 I-6 Look on Amazon or eBay. They're out there. You will NEED to use vacuum advance because without a computer to plot the curve (DSII -or- HEI) you are relying on centrifugal springs and that canister to pull the backing plate around. The vacuum tells the distributor something about engine load and throttle position. A locked out distributor is good for wfo race conditions only.

... and a *Ford* automatic starter will not disengage from a flywheel, destroying it almost instantly on the overrun.

Gary, While Davis does offer DSII style distributors, Davis UNIFIED Ignition describes a coil in cap 'all in one' type. I went to their site and while they show Ford 300 I-6 options for both "race" and "street &strip" DUI, their configurator shows "no products match your search"

William, To answer your question as to why people go Duraspark II. Most likely because it is very reliable and when something goes wrong parts can be found almost everywhere. I don't know what other changes you have made to your engine that might necessitate a 'higher performance' ignition system. The Ford inline six engine is generally regarded as incredibly reliable and a torque monster. Maybe you've installed bigger/better pistons, cam, valves, rods, headers and intake. Maybe you've done a bunch of porting and increased the compression. Maybe you expect to rev it to 6k rpm or beyond. If you just want a one wire HEI style ignition to clean up the engine bay Skip White sells them individually or as a kit with plug wires. Their instructions detail what Gary said about using a relay and heavy wire to connect it. https://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/catalog/category/distributors/ford-6cyl-dist_7486/

That's great news Adam! It's always a challenge working on something that has seen many modifications over the years. As Gary would say, 'You've peeled another layer of the onion.'

It's certainly not. Your pic clearly shows an external fan on the alt (which is characteristic of the 1G & 2G). The ~5x5" steel box on the fender would be the external voltage regulator, as this pic shows: https://supermotors.net/getfile/859765/thumbnail/1ghd.jpg That's pretty scary, and likely a BIG part of your charging problems. The alt body should be TIGHT between the bracket & bolt head (with sliding sleeve, which your bracket still has); and the bracket should be TIGHT to the head or block; and ALL those mating surfaces should be clean & shiny metal (with electrical grease applied - NOT dielectric, or chassis, or thermal, or battery snot, or anti-sieze, or...). Try to get a well-lit focused pic showing all the wire connections on the back of the alt. My impression is that your pic shows a 1G, but there's not actually enough visible to be sure. Your alt is only marginally-tight to the bracket due to the nut & washer behind it (visible in the 2nd pic). But that same nut & washer are also PREVENTING the bracket from being truly tight against the head at that location. It should be a simple LONG bolt, and the alt body should take up all the gap between the back of the bracket & the sliding sleeve in the front of the bracket. A spacer is OK, but not ideal. Most circuits need protection, and the original protection for the charging circuit was a fusible link wire (a normal wire inside special insulation sized to burn out under specific conditions). But Ford changed the circuit design on later 3Gs & all subsequent alt.s to a MEGA fuse, which is easier for most people to understand & replace. So it's a good idea to swap to that when you swap to a 3G, and it's cheap & easy if you get a used 3G since you can get that harness section with fuses at the same JY. This one also has a fuse on the small Y wire: https://supermotors.net/getfile/876977/thumbnail/3gharness.jpg D(rain) & C(harge). That it doesn't work proves nothing - they didn't really work new, which is another reason to get rid of that circuit, and switch to a true voltmeter (like all modern vehicles). The shunt isn't a coil; it's not all in the dash; it's not really resistor wire; and it would never glow. It's a normal heavy Copper wire in the harness sections from the starter relay area to the ignition switch area. It might be wrapped or folded inside the harness to get the designed length, but it's not really "coiled". It has resistance only because it's old Copper - they didn't have the infrastructure back then to process Cu as purely as we have now. But it was never designed to have a specific resistance; they just used its natural resistance for the gauge. If you try to run a HO alt through it, the connectors would burn out long before the wire got hot enough to glow, or even melt its insulation. But those connections COULD still start a fire. That's actually all he needs to find it right there on the back of the cluster, inside the cab. Any modern DMM (even a $10 one) is vastly more-sensitive & -accurate than that old gauge. And the gauge isn't delicate at all - any DMM has ~10,000x more resistance than that old gauge, so the meter won't hurt the gauge. The shunt is large enough for what it will be doing after the alternator output is run directly to the starter relay (battery side), so it's not worth the effort or risk to pull a wire out of the harness. Just disconnect & tag the gauge wires, in case you find some other use for them later (like LEDs...). I stand corrected Steve. Should have said bundle instead of coil. While I have to think 'resistance' is probably my phone's autocorrect for *resistive. The "ammeter" is a good example of the time honored voltage drop test, often suggested for finding something like an internally corroded ground or starter cable. Anyway, good observations and succinct answers. Hopefully this clears things up and helps Adam get his truck going

I'm saying the alternator doesn't matter, period. I advise everyone to re-wire the charge circuit like a stock 3G's for better performance, more safety, and more functionality - even with a stock 40A alt. And this..... It's not a joke when you have a resistance wire glowing red hot up inside the dash where you can't get at it

The shunt doesn't really go to the ammeter - it goes to the battery & all the electrical loads. The ammeter is ACROSS the shunt (it reads the voltage developed by current passing through the shunt's resistance, but displays that as an inferred amperage). So regardless of the alternator type (1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, Leece-Neville...), it's a poor circuit design and should be converted ASAP to a low-resistance wire (shorter & without all the connectors) & a true voltmeter. Most especially if you've swapped to a HO alt. This....

In your first picture the alternator is pivoting from a *stud*, with a nut and washer at the front. That needs to be a long bolt. So you can pull it out and swap the alternator. Also notice the free space behind the alternator pivot boss. You can clearly see in the rust of the mounting bracket where there used to be a spacer sleeve that kept the alternator from shifting back on the bolt. When you find a 3.8 liter Taurus you will take all the wiring -back to the power distribution center (box) on the driver's side. The thick charge cable should connect to a fuse similar to what Gary shows. This fuse *should be* in a small box (holder) attached to the front of the PDC. I'm not sure if all model years were set up this way, but I have taken the holder with the fuse and the cable leading into the box. This saves having to buy an aftermarket holder like Gary's picture. Yes, you have an ammeter. Follow Steve's advice and eliminate the big coil of wire up inside the dashboard before you start a fire in the cab.

BTW, not to be pedantic, I noticed your tutorial says 8.125" mounting, but it is 8.25" as shown in Ryan's pic.

Yes, I looked at your instructions and even mentioned them earlier. So... Swap the pulley, with shim. Bill says get the right pivot bolt (and spacer) instead of the janky stud that's there. I'm thinking may be better/cheaper for Adam to get a 3G retrofit regulator pigtail (eBay, 119851 under/around $10) than buy crimpers, terminal set and that pricey little stator plug.... which also fits a compressor clutch. -you know the one- Then he only needs to connect green to key on power.

Yep 3G. Get the wiring *and* the fuse/holder assembly off the relay box on the driver's side. Tap the adjuster ear 3/8"-16 NC. Hammer the existing adjuster arm a little flatter so it lines up with the 3G. Splice the lt. green/yellow exciter wire to key on power. Loop the yellow to the output stud with a ring terminal. Make the charge cable fit somehow, with copper lugs torched on. Tell me if I missed something...

Thanks Bill! Now we need to find the dead diode that's killing the battery, and a solution to get his truck charging.

I'm trying to look at these pics on my phone, but it doesn't look like it has a brush pac and regulator attached to the rear like a 2G. The kinda rounded corners remind me of a 1G, but then you would have a separate regulator on the inside fender. This leaves me thinking 'aftermarket one wire Chevy style alternator' Unfortunately, these perform poorly because they have to be self exciting. ie, there is no key on source of power to wake it up. Maybe Gary or one of the guys with a decent monitor can better identify it.

Hmmmm I don't see plugs OR multiple wires on the back. Or even a proper spacer on the pivot bolt! The 1G external regulator would look like a tin box about 5" square usually with four wires. It may be some aftermarket one wire alternator and a bunch of barnyard engineering went into that. Wish I had a better answer for you.

Adam, Do you have a 1G alternator (wires and cable bolted to the back, external regulator mounted on inner fender) Or a 2G alternator (two 3 pin plastic plugs connecting it to the truck)? If the latter, CLOSELY inspect the lower plug with two black/orange and one white/black wire. This is the source of many charging problems and more than a few fires. In fact, if you do have a 2G you should probably change it as a matter of course. I got fed up with dead batteries and blown alternators and finally 'upgraded'. But like I said $10 & 10 minutes is quick and cheap compared to the alternatives.

I'm good with minutiae. It is both a blessing and a curse

You're right. I don't see it. What would the designation be for a 4x4 CC? F364?

I really don't think they did. How would they fit between the narrower frame? Maybe plastic came later, but I'm sure the F-450 I gutted had plastic tanks front and rear