After consulting wiring diagram and several threads here and abroad, I'm going to scrap the folly of a TFI/EEC/YFA system for the time tested Duraspark II. Looks like it will be pretty much plug-and-play except there are a couple of things on the truck and wiring diagram that are, I think, weird and unique to the '86. I'm hoping someone has dealt with this swap before.

On my '82 it's red/green and green/yellow to the coil. On the '82 it's blue/white and green yellow. Easy enough. Per the diagram the red/green and blue/white splice upstream of the coil; sure enough, the "spider" is there on the truck. So far so good. It's a jumble of wires - to the EEC relay, the EEC, noise surpressor, the TFI, etc. I'll follow the wire back from the things I'm scrapping and should end up with just the red/green and white/blue to the coil.

I've read the '86 EEC lacks a resistor wire between the ignition switch and coil, so it needs to be added. Can anyone confirm if that's true or false?

Assuming true and I'm reading the diagram correctly, the red/green wire on the '86 matches up to the '82 brown/pink non-resistor hot ignition wire at "start" and the blue/white is the ignition hot wire that needs the resistor. Therefore, the resistor wire goes above the splice on the blue white wire so red/green sends full voltage to the coil at start?

Thanks.

 

The D.U.I. will really clean up the wiring you have to go through when running a duraspark.

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Well I've already got a distributor, and unless I decide to go hog wild on a rebuild I can't see dropping quite that much for a recurved one. But thanks for the info.

On a related note, rather than retrofitting an older YF can I just remove all the feedback sensors from the '86 carb and use it instead?

 

Okay, I've determined the "hot" ignition wire under the hood is indeed running 12v to the coil in both the start and run positions. The manual indicates between 6-8v at run, so there's apparently not a resistor wired into the ignition on my truck.

Where is the best place to add the resistor? Inside the cab near the ignition switch or can I just splice it in anywhere and not worry about getting 12v to the coil at start?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Refer to www.therangerstation.com under tech section there are two good articles that will answer all of your questions on the DSII conversion.

 

I've got that page bookmarked; they say they've run it without a resistor wire with no problems. Still, if the manual calls for it and it's just a matter of splicing a piece of wire in I'd just as soon do it.

I guess the proper thing would be to add it to the harness on the steering column. I know everyone's on the edge of their seats, I'll keep you posted.

 

I used the tfi coil on my '86 300 in my '79 bronco by splicing in a pigtail I bought from the local part store. With my bronco already ds II, it was a non issue with the resistor wire. However, the tfi coil is designed to run 12 v, so keeping the tfi coil and adding the pigtail to the ds II wiring would allow you to void the resistor wire. My 2 cents. Also, by finding an old yf carb, I just bought a rebuild kit, slapped it on the 86 and was good to go. Added a manual choke, too.

 

Cool, I'd planned to wire the TFI coil harness into the DSII harness anyway, so I'll give it a go without the resistor.

As far as potential issues, what do I need to watch for once everything is wired up? Excessive heat in the coil and/or module?

 

Everything is hooked up and she runs, but for some reason the #1 and #6 plug wires are really stretched when the timing is dialed in.

I think the old distributor may have been installed a bit off kilter. Looking at the dizzy from the front of the engine, approximately where should the #1 plug wire male terminal be? 3 o'clock? 12 o'clock? What about the vacuum advance? Anyone got a Duraspark II equipped 300 they could take a look at?

Thanks again.

 

some wires are longer than the others, so make sure ya got the right ones in the right spots.

 

I've got the longest ones going to #1 and #6, they're still pretty taut.

Looking in the manual is seems as though everything is off by 90 - 150 degrees. Per the illustration, #1 should be at ~ 3 o'clock; when I went to pull the TFI dizzy #1 was at ~ 11 o'clock.

Does it matter how the distributor is aligned if the plug wires are just moved aorund to get the right timing/firing order?

 

Too get more slack in spark plug wires, you have a couple of options. 1. Do like you said, and move the wires to adjacent holes on dist. cap, then move dist. body to realign the timing to what it was. 2. Pull the dist. and move it one gear tooth as it is probably off especailly if vacuum advance is not in normal position.

 

What is the normal position for the vacuum advance?

 

I don't know about 6 cyl, but on a v8, it's about 7 o'clock position if looking down on dist. It is about in the middle of adj range if when you loosen the hold down nut on dist.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...130229&width=0

Compared to the pic I found above, the connections on my dizzy are off ~ 180 degrees. Other than aesthetics, does it matter how the dizzy is aligned if the connecitons are moved around so the timing is correct?

If I'm going to re-install it I may as well do it by the book. What's the easiest way to find TDC on #1?