You've already done more with em than i ever did, thanks for keeping us all updated.
Trying to. Ran the UK 2.9 ECU again this evening at 14 deg. Lots of ping, and the engine revs like it's trying to shift a trans. Not entirely sure I can make it work on a manual truck. Guessing the ping is due to not having two O2 sensors. Didn't jumper wire the ECU to test the theory. May put this one on hold or look for someone that has a 2.9 with an auto that wants to do some science.
Found most of a Scorpio air box. It's missing the bottom half, but has the hoses. Not sure what I'm going to do for tubes yet - either a factory box or dual cone filters, or one with two ports.
IAC fits. Waiting on part sales (I use my junkyard runs to fund my truck; grab easy to sell parts, eBay them out. Works well.) to order a TPS.
Found this in the meantime for entertainment
I suppose part of the point of this is that I keep thinking about the design (of the 2.9 in general) and wondering how much potential is really there, and if the Morana prices are really worth paying...
The way I see it, at 177 cubic inches, it's a mouse by any standards. It also has a weird history and seems like it went by the wayside due to emissions in trucks and the dominance of I4 engines in cars. IMHO, I look it as a small v6 that weighs very little, revs fast, and tolerates abuse, meaning the potential for a killer power-to-weight ratio is there. That said, the 24v cosworth will easily pump out 535hp on a twin turbo setup, and utilizes the same block. Granted, it has far superior heads. My point is there has to be an affordable way to bring them on to 50-60% margin of the cosworth and do it on a reasonable budget. I don't have that much wrapped up in mine since I bargain shop or junkyard crawl for everything, and so far I've made progress that makes me want to put it up against a 4.0. The UK parts are giving me an opportunity to see if others can benefit from readily available eBay parts to keep the 2.9s around and to give them a bit more bite.