well its not the ECU, but at least i have a spare now...went to Pick n pull and was lucky enough to find a truck that haden't been totatlly raped. I mannaged to get an ECU with matching numbers. Unfortunatly the coil/ignitor were missing....looked at cellicas too, no luck.
Im going to check the valves again just to be sure. I set them right after I instaleld the engine. But im pretty sure if a valve were hanging open or somthing the vacuum gage would bounce. While im at it I'll see how well the timing marks line up.