You got it. The thing with them is that they're pricey buggers. Way back when, I had found some that were decently priced but it's been so long that the vendor and prices would be outdated. If you're able to hunt around a little, you can find some that wont cost as much as the wires.
I've also used, um things from around the house, as an insulator, but it wasnt pretty.
I know you've been over and over it but it still sounds like a vac leak. This will cause a rough idle and can cause lean codes (the chances of two new O2's being bad are about nill, so I look at issues that can cause systemic problems).
A stockish motor should pull about 20" hg of vac at idle.
If it continues to idle real rough, I might consider a cylinder balance test to see if it can pick up one particular cylinder that's causing an issue. The thing with one goofy cylinder is that once you get the RPM's up, the sheer number of revolutions per minute mask the defect.
Follow this advice, it is the best that you can get.
Cylinder balance test:
Warm the car's engine up to normal operating temperature. Use a
jumper wire or paper clip to put the computer into test mode. Start
the engine and let it go through the normal diagnostic tests, then
quickly press the throttle to the floor. The engine RPM should exceed
2500 RPM's for a brief second. The engine RPM's will increase to about
1450-1600 RPM and hold steady. The engine will shut off power to each
injector, one at a time. When it has sequenced through all 8 injectors,
it will flash 9 for everything OK, or the number of the failing cylinder
such as 2 for cylinder #2. Quickly pressing the throttle again up to
2500 RPM’s will cause the test to re-run with smaller qualifying figures.
Do it a third time, and if the same cylinder shows up, the cylinder is
weak and isn’t putting out power like it should. See the Chilton’s Shop
manual for the complete test procedure
Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire
or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter.
I’ve used it for years, and it works great.
IF your car is an 86-88 stang, you'll have to use the test lamp or voltmeter method. There is no functional check engine light on the 86-88's except possibly the Cali Mass Air cars.
For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections,
see http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16153 for what a
typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so
at Walmart.
Do a compression test on all the cylinders.
Take special note of any cylinder that shows up as weak in the cylinder
balance test. Low compression on one of these cylinders rules out the
injectors as being the most likely cause of the problem. Look at cylinders
that fail the cylinder balance test but have good compression. These
cylinders either have a bad injector, bad spark plug or spark plug wire.
Move the wire and then the spark plug to another cylinder and run the
cylinder balance test again. If it follows the moved wire or spark plug,
you have found the problem. If the same cylinder fails the test again,
the injector is bad. If different cylinders fail the cylinder balance test,
you have ignition problems or wiring problems in the 10 pin black &
white electrical connectors located by the EGR.
How to do a compression test:
Only use a compression tester with a screw in adapter for the spark
plug hole. The other type leaks too much to get an accurate reading.
Your local auto parts store may have a compression tester to rent.
If you do mechanic work on your own car on a regular basis, it would
be a good tool to add to your collection.
With the engine warmed up, remove all spark plugs and prop the
throttle wide open, crank the engine until it the gage reading stops
increasing. On a cold engine, it will be hard to tell what's good &
what's not. Some of the recent posts have numbers ranging from
140-170 psi. If the compression is low, squirt some oil in the cylinder
and do it again – if it comes up, the rings are worn. There should be
no more than 10% difference between cylinders. Use a blow down
leak test (puts compressed air inside cylinders) on cylinders that
have more than 10% difference.
See the link to my site for details on how to build your own blow
down type compression tester.
Im almost 100% sure its an ignition problem. I can hear ticks on both sides of the engine, and its not the lifters.
The car ran fine prior to me swapping the intake manifold.
I did have the distibutor out and the injectors and all electrical connectors pertaining to the intake manifold.
Is there anything insde the distributor that would cause a bad misfire if it went bad?
Is there any way to measure the power of the spark throught the cables to the spark plug?