Rough Idle & Sickness After Painting Mishap - Where to Begin???

[jeffconnects]

I had finally gotten the engine tuned perfectly and took my '91 300ZX TT in for some final body work before declaring TOTAL VICTORY. Then, a few weeks later when I showed up for the car it wouldn't even hold an idle. It would turn over and then die.

Long story short, they had fired up the Z while there was still a significant amount of atomized paint floating around, which was sucked up through my JWT POP charger/air intake. <emotional trauma segment deleted>

I was able to get the car home, and once I cleaned and re-oiled the filter she would at least stay running. However, it still idles extremely roughly and bounces all around from 1000 to 500, back up and down and occassionally dies. It is not healthy anymore.

I assume that my air filter only caught a fraction of the paint fumes and the rest made their way deep into the engine. The MAF malfunctioned first, and that has been replaced, but she's still very sickly.

Can you please recommend the priority of steps I should take to get her back to good?!?

1. Attend Anger Therapy.
2. ...
3. ...
4. ...

Thanks!

[rgregoryb]

Did they paint it while it was running? It should not be affected by paint fumes. Have you run the ECU codes?

[jeffconnects]

Codes clear. Air filter was completely covered with paint. More than fumes, I'm afraid.