the coyote continues to bite... resolved! :)

[Nigel Allen]

Since we're all grasping at straws (or so it would seem), how about this: disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail. Fabricate some sort of way to hook up a shop vac to the fuel rail. Better yet, while doing that, put some sort of filter screen (cheesecloth, etc.) prior to the vacuum and let her rip. It would be interesting to see if you catch any junk coming out of the fuel rail. Yes, even in my Gen II, the fuel does go in on the DS. However, at some point, there is a split and it gets dispersed on both sides. If you were to try to blow it out with compressed air, it would only clog an injector if there's something there. If you vacuum it, you might get it out.

The other side of this experiment is that you can find nothing and say to me "I told you so". That's fine, I just want to eliminate the possibility of a fuel issue and get your problem solved.

DEFINITELY DO NOT USE A VACUUM CLEANER NEAR FUEL.
the brushes on the vacuum motor create sparks and will ignite the fuel/air mix being drawn across the motor. (The air flows over the motor to keep it cool, as it exhausts the vacuum cleaner. That is why the exhaust air is quite warm)

I grew in a coastal country town. 2 fellas got their picture on the front cover of the local paper.
They bought an old boat together. There was a lot of rust in the fuel tank, so they drained it over a few beers and grabbed the wife's vacuum cleaner to suck out the the rust. It resulted in an almighty kaboom as the vacuum exploded into thousands of shards. Luckily only a few cuts from shrapnel.
On the funny side, the dust filled contents of the vacuum cleaner bag blasted themselves all over the guys and they came staggering out of the shed looking like something from a daffy duck dynamite gag. fkn hilarious.

Cheers,

Nige

[Al_C]

DEFINITELY DO NOT USE A VACUUM CLEANER NEAR FUEL.
the brushes on the vacuum motor create sparks and will ignite the fuel/air mix being drawn across the motor. (The air flows over the motor to keep it cool, as it exhausts the vacuum cleaner. That is why the exhaust air is quite warm)

I grew in a coastal country town. 2 fellas got their picture on the front cover of the local paper.
They bought an old boat together. There was a lot of rust in the fuel tank, so they drained it over a few beers and grabbed the wife's vacuum cleaner to suck out the the rust. It resulted in an almighty kaboom as the vacuum exploded into thousands of shards. Luckily only a few cuts from shrapnel.
On the funny side, the dust filled contents of the vacuum cleaner bag blasted themselves all over the guys and they came staggering out of the shed looking like something from a daffy duck dynamite gag. fkn hilarious.

Cheers,

Nige

OK, got me there. My bad. I guess I didn't think that one through. I'd still like to evacuate the fuel rail to ensure there's no blockage, but I stand corrected on the vacuum.

[J R Jones]

OK, got me there. My bad. I guess I didn't think that one through. I'd still like to evacuate the fuel rail to ensure there's no blockage, but I stand corrected on the vacuum.

I was thinking about this factor earlier and failed to mention that most often the smallest crossection will clog most readilly, like the injector orfice.
Facing a similar SBC challenge I plumbed the injectors out of the engine to witness fuel spray. Yeah that can be dangerous too. In that case one or two injectors sprayed properly but 6, 7 and 8 simultaniously only dribbled.
In the case of VVT one might assume failure goes to default, or low speed, but not high RPM position. It should still idle normally.
jim