All done and no more smoke. Put a few miles on it yesterday and it feels like a different vehicle to the one I brought home. The view from the other side:
A few observations for anyone needing to work on the 2 litre:
The manual is not much use for the engine by comparison to the 626 one available online. This covers it in more depth and the bottom end as well. Pretty much everything is the same as the FE 12V 626/929 other than the injection plenum/ICV/TB.
I used an Ajusa gasket set for FE/F2/F8 and listed as a Mazda 929 2.2 '87- set and this was high quality for £44. I've seen similar sets for £13. Other than the restrictor caveat mentioned above, anything for an F2 (2.2 long stroke, same bore) or FE should work. The F2 head casting for the 12V is the same as is the camshaft. Hydraulic lifters are also the same and shared with many other models.
HT leads were harder to cross-match than I thought but Intermotor INT76259 (£9) are a good fit (E2000 van!) just throw away the king lead.
It pays to get familiar with the Aus/NZ folks for this engine as it was popular down there. Some have taken it up to 600HP on boost and there was a factory turbo option. US fork lift bits also fit but those are 8V heads and I worry about the quality.
Ultimate Bongo engine would be B2200 F2 block with 12V head and 626T turbo on it. Power, torque and economy.