[crazypete]

I'm pretty sure the "chassis" harness is seperate from the engine harness functionally and runs along the back of the motor bay along the firewall. Disconnect the two big mother connectors at the back of the engine on the 2.3 (I am assuming they use two connectors like the 5.0's) and see if the lights and horn and turn signals work. Other than that, you dont need juice for a carbed motor.

You'll need to get an ignition box then since the TFI distributor uses the computer for an ignition controller. The 85 carbed motor will have a vacuum advance distributor but the coil needs an ignition signal from somewhere so a duraspark or MSD unit would be advised. If the 85 shell is available, gut the duraspark unit. It should be behind the battery location.

By the way, the in-tank 2.3 fuel pump wont work with the 85 motor. If the 85 motor has the pump on the side of the timing chain cover, you'll need to drop the tank and replace the pump with a length of hose slightly longer than necessary to reach the bottom of the tank (so it turns sideways when it hits bottom). Just thought I'd mention that since the fuel pump relay is computer controlled.

In my _humble_ opinion...this is the best time to pop the dashboard, kick panels, rocker panels and the rear interior panels and pull the extra useless 25 pounds of wiring and harnesses that ship with the fox bodies. You can reduce that forest of cabling to a single 1.5 inch across bundle of wire. Most of that stuff is for airbags and computer wiring. This way, you can trace the useful wires and cut everything else. This will let you move the wiring along the driver's side of the enginebay to the other side of the metal wall. It CRAZY cleans up an enginebay. After you finish, you'll be shocked how much useless wiring is included in a fox mustang.

Have fun!