Howdy all, long time lurker, first time poster.

You guys ever hear the story of the dummy who, even though he knows better, makes all the first timer mistakes when looking at a car and ends up buying a money pit? I am that dummy. My 86 Bronco XLT came equipped from the factory with a 300 inline 6, a C6 transmission, and a full crankcase of oil. Sometime between the time it left the factory and the time it made it's way into my hands the oil miraculously made it's way out of the crankcase and hadn't been replaced. When I bought and drove it home (in the dark) there was no knocking, etc...but with the amount of other previous owner induced problems there were I just may not have noticed. Needless to say, a complete rebuild has ensued, after finding that the engine had a thin film of oil at best on the bottom of the pan, there was a negligible amount of tranny fluid in it's case, and I have now managed to spend more on the truck in parts than what I bought it for. No one to blame but myself, because I knew better, right?
So, with my project before me I proceeded to try to rid myself of the scourge of the feedback carburetor (which wasn't even bolted down, just held on by the layer of gunk that had accumulated at the base). This included switching to the duraspark ignition, which I have (I thought) carefully researched, gleaning much of my information from this fine site. However, (have I mentioned the dummy part yet?) it appears that despite the relative simplicity of this swap, the correct sequence of wiring has eluded myself and the mechanical help I've got. The person helping is really more of a "points" guy, and we're just not making progress. Right now I'm just wanting to get the rig up and running, so in an effort to simplify the process I figured I might try the pertronix setup (Yes, there are tons of arguments to go with the duraspark, but I don't know anyone else who can make sense of what we're missing). However, even this appears to be complicated, as the distributor (from a 79-81 ford van if I recall correctly) isn't a points one to begin with, so it appears this won't work.
Can anyone tell me if there's a kit out there to work with the TFI distributor? Is there a way to convert back to points (without spending $3-400) so we can upgrade to the pertronix? Am I even on the right track to make this simpler? We'd bought a points distributor off of a 63 pickup with a straight 6, but the shaft is way too short and the gear is in the wrong place - shaft diameter looks wrong too, so I don't know if an earlier distributor with points would be a good place to start or not.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

If it helps at all the numbers on the distributor are 9L 7eoue 12127 ba 127

 

Autozone has a complete DSII dizzy for less that $75, and I'll bet you can get the points style one as a reman for even less.

BTW-the DSII setup is fairly easy. I've seen several posts here and on the 80-86 forum that are pretty complete, but I'm too lazy to search for them
Good luck.

 

Go to gofastforless.com and look at thier diaghram for a HEI ignition conversion.
This system will use and needs:
(1) Your duraspark distubtor,
(2) A 75-80 GM 4 pin HEI igniton module
(3) Your TFI coil.
(4) 4 wires. 2 go from the dist to the module, the other 2 go to the coil.
Hint HEI module needs bolted to a heat sink with a heat sink compound (a thick white paste)
The heat sink and module needs to be grounded.

 

i hate to see you spend more $$- does this help?
http://www.billwrigley.com/vintage/308.jpg

 

If you are committed to a "complete rebuild" as you state, then I'd recommend sticking with the DSII ignition. Retrofiting an '86 computer-controlled ignition to a points ignition from a '63, just so you can then try an aftermarket 'pertronix' system on it doesn't sound like the easy solution to me. If you already have the components for a DSII system, maybe you should consider just trying to make that work by asking specific questions here (e.g. where does this wire go, etc.).

 

The DSII swap is painfully easy. Red/white male plug from ignition switch to two-wire female on DS module. Three wire male pigtail end to distributor, one male plug to the DS module (should have a coil wire, IIRC), one other (again, IIRC) to the gauge panel. It's a plug and play swap.

You shouldn't need a wiring diagram but they're out there on the web.

 

With the DSII swap as easy as it is, the gofastforless cobble job is ill advised. Yes, it allows you to use some parts you currently have but it's not too tough to install the factory ones.

You have nearly every piece you need to put your truck to a "factory" condition (at least for an '83) and do it right.
One thing that the gofastforlessers won't mention is that the HEI swap deletes Ford's retard on start feature, which retards the ignition timing for better startup when the vehicle is hot. Remember, Ford wouldn't have spent a cent to include it in the stock module if it wasn't valuable. You have to use the DSII dizzy to do it, so why not go the whole way and do it the way the factory did?

In order to finish the DSII swap, you'll need a coil and bracket, a few wiring plugs from NAPA (or a complete harness), distributer, and a blue grommet module. I have a used wiring harness that'll make it plug and play, and I'll give it to you for freight. A stop at you local yard for a used FoMoCo coil and bracket and a blue grommet module, an hour of time to install the new parts and time the engine, and you're set.

To actually answer your question, no, you can't convert your DSII dizzy to points. But completing the conversion you've already started is really easy, and plenty here can talk you through it.