bought an intact engine to put in my teener, so...i am afraid to ask...before i put it in my car... Options

[BritCarJim]

what "might as wells" should i do to it before installation. i know that it ran before a tree fell on the car body and the thing sat for 25 years before rescue as a parts car. i will clean up what i can, de-rust, paint, etc., but...seals? things to tighten, loosen, adjust, replace?

[Prospectfarms]

Valy's provided a good list. After a 23 year "nap" I had to perform the following RR to my car's (1.7) engine before it ran smoothly and semi-reliably. I was lucky in that I had normal compression in all cylinders and the valve train sounds OK. The work was time-consuming but not difficult. As you probably already found out, dropping the transmission/changing clutch is ridiculously simple on this car. Here's the list as I recall it:

-Tune-up
-Fuel filter
-New engine oil/transmission fluid
-"New-used" Manifold Pressure Sensor (MPS)
-New clutch, T/O bearing, fork bushing and crank seal
-Rebuild four brake calipers
-New MC
-Rebuild Aux. air valve (AAR)
-"Boiled out" and lined the fuel tank

Most relevant to your post I had to replace:

-chassis and engine fuel lines
-rubber hoses between FI and fuel rail (had to chop the swaged connection to FI and replaced it with a new section of R9 hose and hose clamp)
-replaced all vacuum hose with new using kit purchased from AA
-plenum/air box/intake manifold seals
-all gaskets/seals for components attached to engine/transmission (speedo angle drive on transmission, engine oil sump cover plate, valve covers, reverse switch on transmission, oil pressure switch, etc.)
-re-torqued the cylinder head stud nuts, the rocker stand bolts and the rocker shaft retainer (bolts,nuts, can't recall).
-fuel pump
-new "engine" or "ignition" harness, but not the FI harness which was surprisingly sound. I have a '72, and the wiring changed considerably on or after '73, IIRC.
-all terminals and boots that needed it. I fabricated some of the connections or replaced with non- OEM.
-RR'd all the grounds and ground straps (Neg battery, engine to chassis ground, transmission to chassis ground, relay board to chassis ground, ignition harness to engine ground, there's one more but I forgot it.
-RR's the exhaust manifold, hot air valves, hot air pipes, HE and muffler

This was the work necessary just to get the car to run right. For instance, each one of those rubber FI connectors to the fuel rails, and part of the fuel lines themselves burst while I was getting the thing running. Big mess, and dangerous. Another example, I couldn't get the idle right until I'd fixed all the vacuum leaks, the MPS, the AAR and all (most) of the exhaust leaks. The original FP worked for a time after I cleaned it using reverse polarity in a diesel bath, but then it would intermittently fail a few weeks later requiring to a time-consuming diagnosis.
.
SAE...R9 fuel hose is currently specified for FI because it resists ethanol contamination better than R7. Of course, R9 is 5X more expensive. I'm not convinced it is any less likely to rupture than R7 but there are many out there who would disagree. I have used it only on the pressurized sections of the circuitous fuel system of my '72.
Almost all the fuel line I used was 5/16." Metric R9 is not available or I haven't been able to source it anyway.

The original fuel pump had three ports. I replaced it with an in-line Bosch two-port pump that cost $29 new from NAPA.

I don't know if this is effective, but I tried to "clean" the oil galleys by changing the oil with a cheap light (Walmart 5-30) viscosity oil a couple of times in succession, running the engine up to OT between changes.

I replaced the accordion thermostat with a T-2 thermostat after a simple modification of the linkage.

Many engine tin screws were loose or missing and I replaced them. Ditto the gaskets around engine tin perforations (such as the spark plug boots). These are important to cooling and I replaced them with whatever I could come up with.