I mentioned this about a year ago. I still think you should seriously consider pulling the motor and stick a $1,000 running carbed 3.0. Mechanical fuel pump or use your electrical. You don’t even need to pull your harness.
You have been blocked by the complexity of your EMS and budget. The cheap and simple motor gets the car moving under it’s own power. That would allow you to work out the kinks with the rest of the drivetrain, brakes, and chassis electrical. All of that stuff is in your wheelhouse, and you seem to get enjoyment out of that as much if not more than driving.
The other advantage to this approach is that if you sell, you have a running 3.0 with limited new-build kinks. That plus a monster motor on a pallet will be much more appetizing than a in-op project with a looming $3K+ tuning bill.
Either way, there is zero judgement for selling. It’s not “giving up”, it is prioritizing life over play. This forum is a mashup of corporate employees, ‘comfortable’ retirees, collectors, hourly employees, etc. Another large population are small business owners, who between now and the next 18 months are likely going to need to make decisions as they feel the effects of the recession on their business and pocketbook. There will be a lot of classic car sales in the next couple of years, including many e9’s.
Disclaimer: I know that I didn’t identify every demographic and persona on the forum, but the sentiment is directionally correct.
Obviously a recession has a significant impact on everyone, but small business owners are particularly vulnerable at the moment.