Code 14 - AIC valve

Here's the deal. I have replaced...
The engine... All of it.
All of the sensors were swapped from the cx motor (that ran fine, but burned a LOT of oil) to the new engine, with the exception of the thermo sensor, AIC valve, MAP sensor, and Fuel pressure solenoid. The engine is from a 92 DX hatchback Automatic. I have a manual tranny.

All of my vacuum lines are straight, all of my coolant lines are straight. This engine doesn't leak a drop of anything and there is no air in the coolant lines. Every regular maintenance part in the motor has been replaced, including every bearing, seal, gasket, ring, piston, plug, filter, hose, belt, vacuum line... All check out fine. The only mods on the car are .020 over pistons, cold air intake, straight 2" exhaust with no cat or muffler.

My car idle surges like crazy. I've tried 2 different AICV's. Unplugging sensors, and plugging vac lines to see if anything changes. I've even gone as far as replacing my CX ECU with a DX ECU of the same model-year. No luck. CEL with a code 14. There is slack in the throttle cable. The throttle body closes completely. The screen on the AIC valve is clean. Everything on the motor has been through parts washers before I rebuilt it. Electrical parts were all inspected, and cleaned by hand.

When it's cold it will run on its own at 0% throttle, surging the whole time, but after it warms up, it will stall and die at 0% throttle. It surges even when it's warm. At a steady partial throttle, lets say around 3000 RPMs, the engine holds steady for about 3 seconds, then dies down to abot 1200, and kicks back up to a steady 300k for another 3 seconds before repeating again. It does this whether warm or cold. You can hear the AIC valve cycle open and closed so the electrical connector is good.

How TF does this AICV get regulated? I know the ECU tells it to open and close, but based on what values and signals from what sensors? How does it do the math and determine where it should be? Mine's pegging full-open/full-closed at 0% throttle, there is no in-between. Would a bad throttle body cause this? How 'bout the thermo sensor? Are the injectors any different between these motors (carparts.com lists the SAME injector for ALL U.S. and Canadian Hondas made between 92-95)?

There seem to be a lot of posts in different forums about this valve and idle problems, but nothing specific about what makes it tick and how the ECU knows what signal to send it. If I knew that, I'd be a lot closer to finding a permanent solution because it's not my AIC valve that's bad, but that's what throws the CEL code. Any insight from anyone who's tuned out a similar problem would be appreciated.