After a few more months since my initial problem, I've flushed out most of the kinks in the system. The car runs and drives like stock after its warmed up (40C +). However, a number of issues still plague me-- and I think I've figured it out, just need some confirmation.

1) Upon cold start, the car cranks then dies shortly after (there is a piston slap/knock going on now). The ASE/WUE allow the car to run rich during startup so I know it isn't my AFRs that stall the car. My valve duty is open just as much as it is when at stable idle. I've attached my log- I'm holding the gas down for the initial few start seconds. The logs show the RPM drop and ramp up as the car struggles to stay alive and warmup. The solution I'm thinking that might solve this problem is just to open my idle valve manually to a point where the car turns on. I figure the valve can be manually opened because once CL idle kicks in, the valve should operate "normally". Does this make any sense to do it this way?

As of now, when I start my car, I keep my foot on the gas until the coolant temps hit 40C +. Then, the RPMS cycle around 300-1100 RPM until the car warms up. It stabilizes to to the target RPM once fully warmed.

Another issue, which may be unrelated is that the car will sometimes stumble out of CL idle and rev up to 4000. I then have to either shut the engine or drive it until CL idle catches. This doesn't happen often, but it does occur randomly. What gives?