thanks for the abundance of info. i need to send that to my mechanic buddy and see what we can do about that. dude's been doing all kinds of stuff to his mid-90's firebird--ALL KINDS. so he knows a thing or two about engine bay work in general. but my import honda is always a bit different from what he's used to.

now if I just clean the EGR ports, all i'll need is a tiny wire brush and some Chemtool carburator cleaner, right?