Thanks for all the response.  I'm not certain which ones did the trick.. I
chased through all the suggestions and more...The final successful day's
work included blowing air then water through the heater core and all the
supply lines towards the front, then following Ken's bleeding sequence
3more times in a row, then adding a few more ozs to the bleeder screw with
my old device for filling I made when I first messed up the bleeding
process years ago and drove to the desert with a blown gasket anyway...
about a quart out the tail pipe every fuel up...
  So I'm not sure exactly what time fix actually was, but I have a heater
again and the engine is running perfectly.... thanks.