in short order...
had an 86 grenade'd it. pulled it. got a 1996 block that was out in the weather, honed it, new rings and bearings, ebay used pistons and crank and whatever survived from the 86, installed it. couldnt get ignition. Found out theres a difference in the ignition electronics! ahhh! what is the cheapest way to go around that????! i have the brain off the 86 and 96 but im told something to the effect a (cam sensor?) on 86 reads one spot, and on the 96 reads 2 spots and its supposed to be like a 600.00 dollar part. no can do. help!

guess it would be digital to analogue something or other?

If I remember right the wiring harnesses are different too? If you only have the 86 wiring harness cheapest way is to use the pickup coils rotor assembly( I could be wrong about that) and the 86 ignition box.

yes,true. the harness is different. the regulator wires didnt match up either but that was easily overcome despite my lack of electronics. "is to use the pickup coils rotor assembly"
do you mean replace with pre 90 pickup coils? or bypass something? sorry im not bad at wrenching or welding but im terrible at electronics. and thank you!

if your using the 86 wiring harness you need to pull the pickup coils from the 86 motor and install them in the new motor. The pickup coils and rotor assembly are both behind the stator case on the left hand side of the bike. Only thing I'm not 100% sure on is if the rotor needs to be switched. Hopefully someone else will confirm about that though. that thing can be a bear to get off since its pressed on.

thank you! but i dont have those or the old block anymore. and im guessing thatl be spendy? i was hoping i could go the other direction (if there is one!) and put my tci off the 96 on it and somehow make it work with whats available to me. am i just dreaming?

There is no way that I know of to make that work. Either has to be all 96 wiring harness tci, pickup coils etc, or all 86 stuff. If it were me I think I would hunt down a 93 up harness.(or whatever year they switched electronics)

well ill have to quit dreaming and get to work then! thanks again, well appreciated.

Keep us posted how things work out for you!

You don't need the '86 Block, you only need the Flywheel.

If you ain't got that anymore, you have to check the '86 Wiring Harness and undo the right Wires which are not used at the '96 TCI.

It's pretty easy to understand, the old Rotor has two Tracks, and is used with four Pick-Up Coils. There are five Wires coming from the Pick-Up Coils and go to the early TCI.

The newer TCI uses only one Pick-Up Coil, which has only two Wires, the Rotor uses only one Track with six Tooths, one of them being about 3.5 times longer than the others.

If you have the newer Flywheel mounted and a newer TCI at Hand, you need to put the newer Pick-Up Coil inside the front left Stator Cover and check and rewire the Connectors at the TCI's End. Also, the older, 6-Wire Connector and the newer 2-Wire Connector don't match at all, you need to look into this too.