Renix help

I know Renix stuff has been beat senseless but i'm out of ideas.
89 cherokee 4.6 stroker, aw4

Alright so after years of no issues, the other weekend she started to have delayed throttle response and if i just matted it, it would backfire out the intake.
I went through a lot of normals
Tps, cps, map, fuel pump, fuel regulator (pressure is good)
I put a new exhaust manifold on because 4 out of the 6 ports were cracked and i figured the 02 was getting crazy readings.
i refreshed all the grounds which had been done years ago but went ahead and cleaned everything anyway.
I then replaced the 02 sensor which helped greatly with the backfiring and the throttle response is definitely better but not perfect.
Now while its warming up the idle hunts a bit and idles down to the point of almost stalling and then shoots back up. when its warmed up it idles fine, if i roll into the throttle its fine, if i just mat it it hesitates for a second and then revs up as it should.

i went though and torqued the intake bolts in sequence, checked over and over for vacuum leaks. None of the vacuum lines appear to be clogged.
I dont run a cat currently due to the 4 link so thats not clogged.

I'm sorry for such a write up and to beat this subject up, i am just at my wits end and just want the snappy throttle response back.
any ideas would be awesome.

Your next thing to do is actually two things. Put a vacuum gauge on it and report the results at idle and when running. Second, you need to do a compression test both wet and dry.

Those two things will tell you more than any computer would.

Also when you pull the plugs to do the compression test, post up pix of the plugs.

This isn't rocket science, that is what I do for a living.

The sensor ground circuit affects the CTS, TPS, IAT, MAP, ECU and diagnostic connector grounds. It’s very important and not something to overlook in diagnosing your Renix Jeep as it is common for the harnesses to have poor crimps causing poor grounds. If any or all of the sensors do not have a good ground, the signal the ECU receives from these sensors is inaccurate.

Set your meter to measure Ohms. Be sure the ignition is in the OFF position. Using the positive (red) lead of your ohmmeter, probe the B terminal of the flat 3 wire connector of the TPS . The letters are embossed on the connector itself.Backprobe 2

Touch the black lead of your meter to the negative battery post. Wiggle the wiring harness where it runs parallel to the valve cover and also near the MAP sensor mounted on the firewall. If you have an 87 or 88 with the C101 connector mounted on the firewall above the brake booster, wiggle it, too.

You want to see as close to 0 ohms of resistance as possible. And when wiggling the harnesses/connectors the resistance value should stay low. If there is a variance in the values when wiggling the wires, you have a poor crimp/connection in the wiring harness or a poor ground at the engine dipstick tube stud.

Refreshing of the dipstick tube connection is covered in Renix Ground Refreshing, and the sensor ground upgrade is covered in Tip #6 – Sensor Ground Upgrade.

On 87 and 88 models, you could have a poor connection at the C101 connector as well. See Tip #2 – C101 Refreshing and Tip #27 – C101 Elimination.

I only did dry compression because I got results of
150 across the board with cyl 5 a touch high at 155. If you think I should also do a wet let me know but it doesnt seem like I'm hunting for a low cyl.
Vacuum is low at around 8 at idle, my gauge is a bit erratic aswell when trying to read it. I'm re checking grounds as well, I also dont have the C101 connector which makes things a little easier.
I'm trying to post a picture of the spark plugs, I'm not sure if I'm just over looking it

Low vacuum will signal the MAP sensor to add more fuel.

A bad ground in the sensor circuit will do the same........

sometimes just talking to someone and hearing your own results helps. i'm going to check the grounds, but i also run an HEI type distributor and i was able to advance it to around 15 of vacuum, it seems to be much happier there. i dont know how something like that would happen all of a sudden, i have always had low vacuum on this jeep causing me to run a vacuum pump for my big brakes.
do you know where the vac is suppose to be at

17 to 21 inches of vacuum at idle at sea level.

Stock they have 12* of timing.

so 100% it was way out of time, i did a before and after and it was very restarted. its running to good to have jumped a tooth, i'm not sure how it could have been so off. i do beat on this jeep pretty hard (its a rock crawler) maybe the distributor wiggled over time, or its on its way out but when i had a bad 02 it all came together in an ugly mess? it seems to be running fine now, but i do want to continue to check things to make sure i'm okay

You sentence structure makes it hard to understand what you are saying.

Are you saying the timing was way off? How did you determine that? What did you do to fix it?

Did you say you were running 8" of vacuum at idle? How did you fix that? Timing alone should not be able to vary it that much.

Sounds like you have a massive vacuum leak that is causing the MAP to tell the computer wrong info and the computer freaks out.