Ok. I got it running with the flex plate and the CPS wires in standard orientation. Runs well.
With the flex plate still in place, I swapped the wires on the CPS... and it runs... the same?!
I swapped the flywheel in place of the flex plate, with the wires still reversed, and it runs the same! Sounds great!
I swapped the wires back to standard orientation just for science, and it runs, but it doesn?t like to be revved. It stumbles, then the idle hangs high.
I swapped the wires back to reverse orientation, and this time it ran with high idle, I bumped the pedal to see if it would adjust itself down, and it did somewhat, then it died. It did that no matter what I tried with the flywheel on.
At this point, I grabbed my cheap scanner. At first it was just a trans position code and a (810) clutch position control malfunction. (??) Odd, since it?s automatic. I cleared the codes, ran it again until it died (8 seconds?), and this time I got 4 codes. 446 (EVAP), 1500 (my code book doesn?t even go that high), 453 (EVAP), and 73 (ambient air temperature sensor circuit high).
I swapped the flex plate back on, and it runs fine again. I?m now convinced that this system needs a flywheel with the gaps, rather than an earlier flywheel with the holes.