help me with this 2.3L question

I just did the same swap you are inqiring about. My car is a 85 but the entire electrical system is from an 89 Mustang. I have a complete parts list on my site you can look over. It's specific to the 89 Mustang and and 88 TC as the donor.

Flemworld

Click on the Slugstang Section and then the How To's section.

There are also 4 other sites you can check out that aided me in my swap.

140CILX = http://140cilx.stangnet.com/

CROVAX = http://heavymetal.stangnet.com/

GT350r = http://gt350r.stangnet.com/index.html

Stinger = http://24.91.96.177/stinger/

As for checking the motors I would say compression check.

As for the Turbo's a visual inspection of the turbo fins and check for shaft play and rubbing.

very few things you can do to determine if its a worthy motor. all i did was take out the plugs , with a flash light looked to see what i could see in the cylinders. Took a rachet and manually turned the crank to make sure it was not siezed. The best thing in my book is too look for obvious reasons that that specific car is there, like collision damage of some sort. You have more reason to believe that car was *atleast* running at the time it was totalled and sent there. Also look for a very clean car, nice (not shreded) interior and a really clean body, alteast that car may have be taken care of...either exstreme usually catches my eye