1990 S13 MAF sensor acting up??

[bigbadhr]

I have had my MAF sensors wires been out in the open for a while now being bare naked nd cut up at my mechanics shop i put in my engine mounts and rack nd pinion today i touched the maf sensor and showed him it needs fixing. After all this i took it for a spin and now i cant pass 3.5-4k rpm it drops back down and when i let go of clutch when i throw it into neutral it goes below 1k and stalls out and dies..
I taped the wires closed individually then put them together its still happening i think it could be from the wires being bare naked and get shot from it touching the intake metal.. frying my MAF sensor. before i drop 3 bills and get a new sensor could it be anything else? i also opened my sensor and saw lil microscopic gunk on the sensors im gonna clean that off then see what else is up.. if anyone knows anything it would be a whole lot of help this shts pissing me off