So far, I've already unplugged all the sensors. The only ones that didn't make a noticeable difference were the MAF and TPS. All the others made the thing run worse, almost stall. The only way (so far) that I've been able to make it run ANY better is to CREATE a vacuum leak...and by that I mean I disconnect the brake booster AND the charcoal canister (the two biggest ones on the tree). This whole thing is screaming too much fuel...WAY too much fuel. Like, oops, didn't mean to put that Dominator carb on my 4-cyl, my bad. Not sure if I can get to the O2 sensor while it's running. I have read a few threads on here talking about an air pocket behind the thermostat that messes with one of the temp sensors there...the one to the right of the thermostat...possibility? What else would/could make these pump too much fuel in? Anything on the fuel pump/filter side of things?
You saying something about the plastic lines clicked something in my head. I remember pulling the FPR line off the FPR while it was running (still connected to vacuum tree) and there wasn't NEAR the vacuum at the FPR end of the hose as there is at the tree. I just went out there and pulled the line completely off (UIM, valve covers, alt, rad hose still off) sucked on one end and held my finger over the other. Tried to blow into it as well. No leaks either way. It was REAL hard to move air through it. Just didn't seem right that there'd be that much vacuum at the tree and not at the other end....might try and find a chunk of vacuum line on my Sammi that I could borrow just for testing purposes.
So you don't think I could have a hunk of crap holding a valve open? I know some tiny bits of old head gasket might have gotten between piston and wall, but nothing 'big' was left in cylinder when I put heads on. I rotated the engine by hand a few times and wiped the walls clean before the heads went on...thinking about it a bit more, if I did have a valve hanging open, the rockers 'should' be a bit loose and tapping like mad, but they're not, so...