Check for vacuum leaks as discussed, also check the IMRC’s wiring, vacuum hoses, and verify they close at idle. If they are open at idle and not tuned for it it can cause lean condition
Check for knock if it shows knock weather it’s real or false it is pulling timing, check intake air temps if it’s too high ether real or bad sensor it’s pulling timing. Check fuel trims maybe you got bad gas. Check cylinder contribution. Check oil pressure. Check cam advance. Check throttle body...
I had a similar issue once. I was driving on a mountain road gettin it when all of a sudden my steering felt like it locked up. It didn’t though, it just got really hard to turn. The power steering is electric and the power wire somehow wigged loose enough that it lost connection. The electric...
When you install the new pumps make sure you get any air out of the tube that crosses over from one side of the tank to the other. If air gets trapped in there it acts like a toilet trap and slows down fuel transfer across the tank
Generally you want to keep the bucket full all the time in all driving conditions. This helps keep the fuel pump cool and insures you don’t starve the system of fuel.
No point in changing the belt unless you are installing a gates green belt or rpm belt. Rpm being the best option from gates. When he gets to the point where he wants more power look into a overdrive balancer
The smoke test will check for vacuum leaks the o2 swap will verify the o2s are good and the injector swap will check if a injector is clogged or failing for some reason
Yes the two closest to the engine. You can check them but I would still swap them if it is possible. I would swap the o2s and swap all the injectors from side to side and see if the code changes banks
I don’t think it’s a leak in the piping system because it would have a lean code for both banks. How bad is the leak at the header? Can you swap the o2 sensors from side to side and see if the code follows? No other codes?