Wow !
    Thanks everybody for the overwhelming response.  It felt like getting a
standing ovation for not exactly knowing what I was doing... but in the best
possible way. I have a much better idea now about how to proceed.
    I'll probably have to get a new ISV with controller. Didn't want to
because of the price, but maybe I've miss-set the timing(Bentley has only
the temp sender disconnected- perhaps the ISC is tied to the ECU
timing-works?) Like I may have said before- the ISV connected at this point
just makes it race to about 3k RPM and just sit there, very scary. I've been
doing any set ups on the engine with that disconnected. (how much
communication is there, anyway, between the ECU and the IS controller?).
    I would love to bring it to Ken Wilford at some point, both for my own
education and the benefit of the van, but there's not enough time now and
I'm guessing I wouldn't be able to make it anyway in the state the vans' in.
    About the throttle body: did a full set-up/cleaning a few weeks ago.
Nothing to hairy going on, little bit of carbon. Double-checked and reset
the throttle switch per Bentley, and renewed the vacuum line connection to
the charcoal canister along with the short hose to the fuel pressure
regulator.
    The Temp sender for the dash is working fine: couldn't screw that up
cause I had to solder wire to the sender and then splice(old connector
didn't work).
    I will pick up the capacitor for the AFM as well, and give the contacts
a good cleaning. Didn't realize the temp sender for the AFM was accessible,
will look at that as well.
    Thanks again everybody, and I hope to report good news soon.
                                            -Matt Sutton