A bit of a long story so please bear with me. 2L blacktop Zetec on Jenvey throttle bodies
A couple of years ago I was setting off to the classic Le Mans. The car had been running fine. I put the battery on trickle charge over night and when I set off in the morning it ran like a sick dog. hesitating and missing all the way to Newhaven. When I finally arrived it cut out and refused to start. I had a spare set of plugs which I changed and noticed the crank sensor wire was next ti the live off the battery. I moved the cable away and it started and ran like a watch all the way down and back.
When I returned to the UK the car broke down 20 miles off the ferry. Turned out to be a dead cell in the battery. so I purchased a new battery and alternator as it had stopped charging.
After a new battery and alternator I can't get the car to run cleanly, it hesitates and misses and will not tick over. It smokes with a whitish plume and the plugs are sooty. I have replaced the following;
Plugs, coil pack, leads, air temp and water temp senders as well as draining the fuel.
Any suggestions as where to look next would be appreciated.
I have spoken to Steve at road and race who originally mapped the car ( it ran like a dream) and he has said that the ECU would either work or not
Regards, Jon

I note your sent acne about crank sensor wire near battery terminal and wondered if that initially was the problem i.e. the wire was close to a dying battery and had been affected by stray electrical interference SO are the VR sensor wires shielded and is the shielding earthed at 1 point and at the same place the ECU is earthed?

Have you got a copy of the map and can you compare it to the one currently in the ECU as it may be corrupted

Thanks for the reply, The crank sensor is shielded. Does it need to be at just one end?
Steve at road and race has the map.

Have you changed the crank sensor and wiring if that gave the issues in the first place I would have changed them ?