The 4-pin sensors are all the same, the part numbers may be a little different. It's very simple but effective device, 2 precision resistors.
The part numbers on the stock Ford sensors are different because the voltage output curves are VERY different.
An F2VF sensor, as an example, is NOT a direct replacement for the OP's AFH55 sensor.
I'm putting a new 255 lph pump in and doing the tune up that was suggested as well as the correct sample tube.
I have not seen anything that would make me think you are having any issues with the current setup?
Maybe I missed it?
What makes you think you have the wrong sample tube?
Was your brother an idiot? Sounds like the rest of the setup your brother put together is pretty damn good considering when it was built. I would be inclined to think you have the right sensor, sample tube, housing already.
C&L not good? Who’s baloney have you been reading???
That 'balogna' may have been MINE.
Any sensor that is so sensitive that rotating it in the intake tube has to be done experimentally to find it's 'sweet spot' is a POS, by the very definition of POS.
There is a reason C&L was popular in the early years, and then faded from existence... Searching the threads here, 5-10yrs back, will reveal just how many issues there were with getting stable idle out of these things.
For a long time, C&L was all we had available. We can do better now.
And to say that C&L's flow bench was blessed by God, and thus used by NASA, so their product must have been Holier than all else, is just silly.
Even if that flow bench was more accurate than the almighty, the OP's meter was never flowed on it... which is the secondary inherent fault in the C&L design.
There is nothing wrong with updating the engine management system, fuel system, etc... simply because better tech is available. But to just toss money at it when it is running fairly well, seems kinda silly to me.
If it were me... Measure the sample tube on the MAF, and the housing diameter with calipers. The 'correct' diameters and sample tube colors are in this forum here somewhere... I know I posted them here before, as well as on other boards...
Enjoy the ride for what it is, especially if getting the car here set finances back a little, as it sounds like it did.
Nothing worse than a wife getting pissed because she has to cut HER budget for something, due to you overrunning the budget for a 'stupid car' (as most women seem to view them as).