another day with the tuner... still no dice.
started cranking away at 8:30 left defeated at 5pm
pulled the front of the motor apart. confirmed timing, placement of timing sensors, and swapped over another known working cam actuator to the front of the cam. also swapped the oil driven cam drive bits that are on top of the cam. the harness was pined out AGAIN and we followed the electrical schematic for the harness he built. everything LOOKS and pins out correct. we literally untaped the engine harness and were looking for any rubbing of broken wires... we found a few small issues but nothing that affected the car running.
i should note that the ecu was sent out and tested by flying miata. they also sent the tuner a harness and he tested the ecu in his 2001 miata. both times the ecu performed without any issues.
so...
ecu checks out
harness checks out
sensors check out
engine checks out
arrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg~!!!!!!
so there is no one else who knows this engine management system except flying miata in colorado, and i cant afford to mail the car there. i think it would be cheaper to just put in another engine.
very very very frustrated 7 owner here. im starting to think about getting rid of it or swaping in a vw engine 1.8t engine.