gooodam everyone
motored my Z this am and had a great drive.
dusted and post QD'ed afterwards.
also fixed the dogdamn older fit. i kept throwing p1028 even after replacing the thermostat, so decided it must be something with the water temp sensor... after a little digging, there it was, hardness was nearly severed on both wires
so cleaned it up, soldered them back together, cable wrapped and the pos is good to go for another few yrs.