An update.
I got Izzy (have no idea why that name has stuck, but it did) back from the mechanic. Ran great, for a day. Then a CEL. EGR Flow Insufficient. Did the Seafoam treatment, and so far no more CEL or codes and it seems to be running great. I wonder how long before I will have to do it again? At least it is an easy thing to do, about a half hour total.
Of course, the downside to all of this is money. I have dropped around $7000 total so far into it. 99% of that is just getting it runnng reliably. $7k over 8 months is still less than a grand a month, but is still more than I was putting out for my Tacoma in payments. These costs really need to slow down before it kills me. And yes, I still have loads more work to do.
Gahhh!
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VX Status: Running Great! Build is coming along nicely...