It's still in control, it only delays the opening of the waste gate for higher boots ,  but don't get too greedy with it , 💥. Nice that you got it finished, and thanks for sharing your progress with us, it help others that are thinking of doing the same thing , now go and enjoy

Not trying to get more boost out of her, just a little more delay before it starts spooling. Seems to start spooling at around 2400. I'd like to have it start at about 2900-3000.

Still have the stock cam and lifters. I'm not certain yet, but I'm thinking ranger cam, t3-t4, and the PiMP ecu as my first round of upgrades to the motor. I'm going to hold off on the boost control valve till I get my bigger wheels on. It could be just right if the larger wheels gets me the ratio I want.

I'm going to start the suspension and brake rebuild next though. It's become very clear that all of my bushings are shot, and not up to par with the capabilities of the car now(or before). I'm ordering a tubular A-arm and big brake kit up front, 2" drop. All 5 lug, front and back, via shortened 8.8(with discs) out back. And get a disc brake master cylinder put in. Considering going 4-link on the axle, but not sure yet.

Not trying to get more boost out of her, just a little more delay before it starts spooling. Seems to start spooling at around 2400. I'd like to have it start at about 2900-3000.

T3 upgrade time. That or leggier gears and more tire. I have to ask though, why have it spool later?

It isn't really going to be possible without going to a different turbo that has larger exhaust housings available. The other option is to find/adapt a wastegate actuator that opens lower than 10psi and modify the boost control bleeder orifice to make it peak at the same ~15-16psi. Retarding the cam will move the torque later in the revs a bit. The fastest and cheapest solution is to tighten the nut behind the wheel. 

If you get a PiMP ECU, it can provide for boost based on RPM between the wastegate actuator's minimum setting and  however high it will hold without a boost signal. I have my MegaSquirt-II set to provide high boost (16psi) whenever.

Still have the stock cam and lifters. I'm not certain yet, but I'm thinking ranger cam, t3-t4, and the PiMP ecu as my first round of upgrades to the motor. I'm going to hold off on the boost control valve till I get my bigger wheels on. It could be just right if the larger wheels gets me the ratio I want.

Getting a turbo you can grow into is tough to do. A Ranger cam is also not an upgrade unless all you want is roller followers. Lots of people get hung up on the different lobe shapes, but actual events at the valve are indistinguisha ble from a stock turbo slider. A good aftermarket cam will be big bucks these days, unfortunately. I can hardly believe how much the prices have gone up recently.

Also, avoid TO4B-based compressors if you get a hybrid. They are ancient profiles and none of them are well-suited to the boost and flow requirements of the average 2.3T. There are many ways to identify them, but the easiest is by eight main blades on the compressor wheel.

I find that the stock 3.55 rear end I'm using has a bit too much gear even with a T3 turbo. At this point I think 3.25s will be about right for my car, especially as power/torque increases.

The PiMP is a licensed MegaSquirt-based product. Stinger Performance produces it and the owner is on turboford.org frequently as am I. It was meant to be a plug 'n' play MegaSquirt-II conversion for '83-89 Ford 2.3T vehicles. Since yours is using a factory ECU, it should be plug 'n' play too.

IMO, the throttle response is far crisper and generally better with a speed-density system like the MegaSquirt/PiMP/etc.

"I find that the stock 3.55 rear end I'm using has a bit too much gear even with a T3 turbo. At this point I think 3.25s will be about right for my car, especially as power/torque increases."

I couldn't agree more. Granted that tire size is also a factor. Side rant - Why can't the industry come up with some other measurement that factors rear ratio AND tire size. Something on the order of driveshaft revolutions per 100 ft., or mile or whatever (end of rant)?  When I was looking for my 8" rear at Pick A Part I ran into the guy who who was snagging them all.  He told me except for some limited use, rare, car/year combination the 3.25 was hardly used by Ford. He said the likelihood of finding an 8" with that ratio was basically nil. So to get that ratio it likely won't happen with a junkyard center section swap. It requires purchase of new gears and the task or outside cost of installation.

 Otherwise it is 3.00, 3.40 or 3.55.  3.00 was OK as the turbo had the torque to pull that, but as I often complain they were miserable for regular "street speeds." You just couldn't find the right gear/rpm. I have 3.40's now and find them acceptable. I'm running 175-70-13" tires on Ralleye wheels and 65 MPH is 2,600 RPM in 5th gear. But at some point I'm bumping up to 205-60-13".... or .... [195/205]-60-14" if I can find another pair of SSP look a like wheels. Then I think I'll be even happier with the taller tires.  So, if your doing this one on the cheap I'd say 3.40's and tires taller than the basic 175-70-13".

That's what I have and 185/75-13 rubber is barely enough on dry pavement with a stock 2.3T.  On even damp pavement my Runabout will squirm through 4th gear.  A wagon might not, but I don't have one of those...

The 8" I found has typical 3.00 gears as well and transmission gear spacing is a concern that's been in the back of my mind for a long time. 3.00s will probably suffice for a while until I go with more gear, a T-Lok, and possibly taller/definitely wider tires.

Depending on the rear ratio and tire size of the donor, a gear ratio can be figured that will match the original car behavior-wise. I think the '87-88 5-speed 'Birds had 3.55s, so exactly matching the RPM at 60mph in 4th in a Pinto with our tire size would require a 3.19 rear ratio.

My older donor car had 3.45s and spun a little higher in 4th, so 3.22s would match the original characteristic s. Since 3.25s are the closest available ratio, the choice is obvious.

I don't know if Motorcraft still has them, but the most common brands you're likely to see in a chain store (at least here) are Borg Warner (BW Auto), Bosch, and the house brand. I find a lot of the sub-$30 sets have very soft boots and sometimes the terminal will pull out of it and take the core too.

Taylor-Vertex, MSD, and Accel probably have good race-grade wires, but I haven't tried them.

I have never heard that these ignition systems have any special needs myself. I think defective wires are probably a bigger concern than the name on them. Autolite 764 plugs are not the only ones that will work well in a 2.3T, but they are original equipment, cheap, and easy to find.

The quality of ignition components will become more important as power levels increase. Denser mixtures are harder to light off so the coil voltage rises higher before the plug fires which is more demanding of all the insulating parts.

"Got 100 miles on it since the swap, no major issues at all. This makes me nervous..."

Be thankful for that.  Where as my Turbo swap fired up on the first twist of the key..., it had a miss at idle and ran totally crappy at about the 2,500 RPM range. I literally swapped every component, VAM, TPS, O2 sensor, temp sensors, TFI, distributor, coil, fuel pump, cleaned injectors, various hoses etc. - even the ECU and nothing made a difference. Nearly two years later on a whim I ran 12V directly from the battery to the coil and the problem went away.  I still don't know the cause, but the cure was to install a key switched relay directly from the battery to the coil.

So, be thankful and enjoy. :-)

Yes, and to avoid troubles like that I opted to used the stock, 88 harness from the donor car. But, apparently not. There is a resistor wire in the TC harness (column), but I swapped the column too. Now, I did have to cut it (there was no other way of getting it out), but I soldered it and never altered its length.  Just one more mystery (and curse) of running a factory 87-88 harness. 76 HRP, did you use the stock coil and if so was there any resistor used?

I have a short video of it now. I just have to figure out how to post it. I've never posted one before.

On posting a video, the one on my project was the first time I did this; went to youtube, right top click upload, logged in with a gmail account, uploaded the video following the simple instructions, and copy pasted the youtube url of the vid in my Pinto post.
Hope this helps.

I fingered out the video posting deal... I think. So here is a short one. I'll post one of a joy ride, when I get a brave camera man. My first video, so don't expect any kind of quality.

I don't yet, but this might offer some ideas:

http://stinger-performance.proboards.com/thread/732/fix-pcv-system-engine-blow

Cool, but be safe. There was a guy on here a while back that had a grandpa like Squire Wagon, cheezy plastic hub cap, a beer box hiding his rear mounted battery - and a turbo conversion. He seemed to bait the Ricers too. There was an actually a web site about his car. Not sure how to link to it now.  But, yea, go PINTO!

Update: Found it. Click on the "more" when you get to the pictures for continuing information. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2167062/1980-ford-pinto/