esp8266 & coryjfowler mcp2515 library - initializes ok but no messages received

Yes, your loopback code sent a message and successfully received the message.

I am confident with crystal frequency and baud rate -- with Raspberry Pi and the same MCP2515 adapter I am receiving data.

I have played around with some values in the mcp_can_dfs file:

// from https://www.kvaser.com/support/calculators/bit-timing-calculator/ 
#define MCP_CNF3        0x03 //0x00   //0x85  // was 0x28  
#define MCP_CNF2        0x88    //0xb5  //0xF1  // was 0x29
#define MCP_CNF1        0x00  //0x01  //  0x40  // was 0x2A

This seems to have some effect -- the default settings do not work (crashes) -- but to be honest I don't know what I'm doing...

I guess I should play around with a standard arduino to see if it's ESP related...

There's no lookup for the "135" error code?

Thanks!