I'll try and keep this to the basic symptoms. '87 NA, babied and all, went for a cold start which happened, then died in under 2 seconds. Further attempts to start either didn't happen at all, or required large amounts of fuel to keep it above a very rough idle, with lots of exhaust popping and extremely rich smell. Also, exhaust sound is just ... weird. Replaced spark plugs and wires, popped exhaust off to make sure it wasn't obstructed (wasn't and shouldn't be, it's less than a year old high flow exhaust, rx7 specific, because i know about our exhaust temps.)

Just want to know where should i start? Could a bad AFM be that catastrophic? Or is that classic symptoms of a vaccuum leak, or do i just put aside the money for the engine rebuild now?

Any assistance would be lovely, this is my baby, and i unfortunately do not have that much money to throw into troubleshooting... Thanks for any help.

 

I don't see why you should rule any of those out....
Start with the vacuum leak I say. Some starter fluid can't be very expensive...