UPDATE: YARRRRR! She almost be seaworthy!
Yesterday's list of fun:
1. Finished trimming up/adjusting fan shroud - no more rubbing/clicking;
2. Soldered up connections to TPS sensor that were crimp-connected by PO - one was loose enough that it pulled apart completely;
3. Replaced ugly-arsed and messed-up washer/coolant reservoir combo piece with universal reservoir and washer pump that I had laying around in my closet, wired up, and I now have a functional window squirter;
4. Trimmed/cleaned up battery cable ends, terminals, and posts;
5. Checked timing and set to 10* BTDC;
As it turns out, the biggest problem with the car's ability to run correctly was that the timing was set to 0*.

I'm guessing the PO pulled the dizzy to replace the TFI module at some point, since it looks aftermarket, and probably forgot to mark the dizzy/rotor beforehand, so he just set Cylinder #1 to TDC, aimed the rotor at that, and just left it there at 0* as soon as he got it to start.
Suddenly, this car has balls now. Nothing outrageous, of course, and still obviously lacking in power compared to any stock EFI 5.0, but it'll spin 'em from a stop and chirp 'em on the 1-2 shift, so it's definitely better than it was. I still apparently need a radiator; I drove it over to my place without it overheating at all, drove it to Wal-Mart up the road and back with no problem, but on the way back to park it for the week, it got up to the 3/4 mark again.
Also, there's still a weird surging-at-cruise and an occasional idle surge problem with it that seems to come and go, although since I rolled the timing up to 10*, at least it doesn't stall out at every damned stoplight - what's weird is that it ran better when it was warmed up compared to when it was cold or half-warm, so I'm not sure which sensor(s) to be looking at for that issue.

Again, maybe the EGR position sensor, maybe the TPS, or maybe the MAP sensor ... or something else I can't think of, yet.
So, for making a full round trip to/from its parking place to my home without overheating, it earned its decorative "Remove before flight" ribbon (which I've transferred from car to car for like the last 10 years or so). Just for poops n' laughs, as soon as I can afford to toss a radiator in this thing, I'm running it on down for smog inspection to see if it'll pass. If it does pass smog, then it shall have earned its skull n' crossbones plate.
