1.8 VVT Swap NA starts but won't catch idle

Backstory before the issue occurred. The car is a 93 with an 03 engine managed by a MS3 pnp. She has been running under her own power for about a year now until last week. I was out and about for a good 60 miles getting things done before a giant rain storm touched down in my area. While home the miata sat through the storm that lasted about 6 hours. I did not drive during this time. The next morning when I was about to leave for work she wouldn't start, just cranked. Figuring that with all the moisture in the air something must have gotten wet that wasn't supposed to. So I left things as is in hopes it'll just dry off. That night still no start.

Over the next couple days I have replaced both the cam and crank sensors, replaced the spark plugs after learning they were fouled, and cleaned all the grounds. She now starts however, will not idle. The RPM needle bounces between 0-200, the exhaust backfires, there's a constant clicking from what sounds like the ignition switch. Pressing the gas does nothing and opening the tb manually does nothing as well. Something to note. Even under this rough condition the engine does not stall.

I've never seen a car "run" like this before so I'm at a loss. Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Update. After checking the tps, iac, spark plug wires, timing, fuses, as well as all my settings in the ms it turned out to be the cam sensor. Swapped it for another and she runs as she should.

Side note for those that may stumble upon this post. Do not buy the Walker Products cam sensor from rockauto. Thing is straight garbage.

DOA cam sensors for the NB 1.8s are a bit of a thing, at least more common than it should be.

I would suggest NTK. Buy 2, or if your current one works, buy another and put the new one in and store the known working one in a watertight bag in the trunk.

It’s the easiest sensor to replace, but when they fail, it’s sudden and inconvenient.