Well fiddlesticks. we have a fledgling headgasket issue that I probably wouldn't have caught if I hadn't been fooling around with the cooling system last week.
I think I posted about this, but if not... after replacing the crank sensor I started having trigger issues, that were exacerbated by the aw71L install... because they happened the worst at around 1800rpms, and that's right in the butter zone for locked up and cruising at ~50mph. no amount of changing the timing map would correct the issue I was having, which is what led to the CAS install. The cooling fan switchout was not without issues either, as I tested and verified everything...except that the ecu was actually turning it on. this lead to a warmer than desirable drive home last friday (~230 degrees or so, dash gauge never moved, and I took it easy on the way home, but a lot hotter than I would like). That was a simple forgot to turn it on in the ecu (enabled the output, set the criteria, aaaand didn't set the on value...dammit!)
corrected that, went to drive the car monday and it had a bit of a variance in cranking compression.... uh oh... it did it again this morning, but slightly less pronounced. then this afternoon with everything working correctly the temps started creeping again, but with the fan working. pulled the plugs, and 1, 2, 4 look great (if not a little aggressive on the timing marks)..and 3.... she's a bit rusty.
oh well, good time to put the upgraded valve springs and retainers in, and make sure everything looks good.. also it's about due a timing belt, so meh. not really what I wanted to get into, but not the end of the world.