Okay... great news! I drove it it's first 50 miles today! I did a lot of stopping on hills and starting...loading the engine. i did a lot of engine braking, and a couple full throttle blips. it ran pretty well.

i am curious...what needs adjustment? ISC, TPS, timing, etc. I didn't enter timing mode to set timing yet. i just put my timing light on it, and set it around 10*. I do it precisely tonight. What else? the throttle response seemed kinda soft and i dunno, the motor just felt...not tight yet.

also, i was running a little warm. from 208-226. it's 83*and matching humidity. i refilled with 50/50 coolant and installed new t-stat. it'd get up there to 226, then it'd cool down, i guess the fans turned on?

forgot to mention that when i was installing the coolant sensor (female) i broke some of the plug housing off. the sensor plugs in fine, but some of the female oval boot thing broke off.

i love replying to my own questions! i changed the timing. i could only get about 3 extra degrees (13*) out of my timing before I heard spark knock... anyhow, that really tightened things up. it was set at about 0 before I set it! It also runs a little cooler too, duh! Anyhow, it's still about 205-210ish. i have a 180* t-stat in, so i'd like it a little cooler!