Ok guys, my brother finally got this thing in the shop and had the O2 sensors changed. One of them was stripped out and they both were bad. The car runs a million time better now. It starts on the first try, idles fine and has gobs of power right up through 6000rpm. I think it's still got some little quirks but changing those sensors went a long way. It drives like a Subaru now!
I have a new issue to ask about now though. His shifter was really mushy so for Christmas we bought him all the shifter upgrade parts available from Turn In Concepts. This included the Kartboy Short Shift Lever, the Kartboy front and rear Shifter Stay Bushings, the Lever Pivot Bushings. I tried to get the linkage update, but they were sold out so I bought a rebuilt one from another forum member here that used nylon replacement bushings. Seemed almost as good. Anyway we had all the parts installed today by my favorite mechanic and the shifter feels better, but still has about 1 inch or more of side to side slop when a gear is engaged. Is this normal for this car? It seems like it should have been at least as stiff as my 2009 WRX shifter which has yet to recieve lever pivot bushings or the linkage bushings. My 2009 has about 1/8th of an inch of play when a gear is engaged for comparison. Anyone on here have any Ideas? Maybe I should start a new thread for this issue?