school me on dist

I always liked the Mopar stuff.
Then buy an electronic ignition kit. I think you can still find them w/ e-distributor, gold box, ballast, connectors. Used to be >$200, but I recall seeing for ~$150 on ebay. Don't recall if a slant distributor. Your 1986 truck may have the factory "electronic spark computer" (also called "lean burn"?). Regardless, you will have to greatly mod. your engine harness. I expect much more than the "2 wires" Johnny Dart claimed. An HEI module uses no ballast, hence easier to wire. Many posts on both, judge for yourself.