Slartibartfast

The plug wells are supposed to drain into the area under the lower manifold, but the drain is usually blocked with casting flash that they couldn't be bothered to clean out. I cleaned mine up a bit when I had my intake out In hopes that it would make life easier if/when I was in there again. You want real fun, try getting a compression tester with a bent hose to thread into #6, with the intake on.

Black with cloth is bad enough!

I haven't tried to install it yet, but I bought a GPD drier for mine, PN 1411457, via Rockauto IIRC. It has bolts going into both sides at the top, one of which I assume I can just remove to install the pressure switch, possibly using a fitting from the old drier. One of these days I'll get around to fixing my aircon, but this is not that day.

IIRC I looked up hatch struts for mine on Rockauto, and bought what they suggested. They fit up like factory and have held up just fine. Which struts did you buy? Any chance you got the ones for the rear glass instead of the hatch? You have a few options for the cowl vents. You may be able to get the OE style new, or used ones shouldn't be too hard to track down, though for used ones you'll need to source the clips as well (or use zip ties). You can also get an updated version that's not as attractive but is better at keeping leaves out of the fan (and the blower resistors). I picked up an aftermarket set of those for mine recently, and they came with the clips, so that's nice. And if for some reason you want CNC'd metal ones that say Send Nudes, the minitrucker market has you covered. There's a mail slot vent on Fleabay right now. I think I've got a full set on the parts truck, message me if you're interested.

Did you bleed the cooling system after fixing the leak? There's a bolt on the intake manifold, should be marked "do not open when hot." Remove the bolt (with the engine cold, obviously), gently squeeze the upper rad hose until coolant rises up to the threads, then hold it there while you put the bolt back in. Check the rad, top it off if needed. Might help. That said, the temp creeping up when you're pushing it hard on a 100° day does not surprise me. The one time my '95 tried to overheat was under similar conditions.

Sounds a lot like how my '93 drives! I think the trouble with mine is as much the engine being gutless as the transmission doing dumb things. Shifts up too soon, doesn't want to shift down again, then acts all surprised that my foot's on the floor and revs the tits off the engine trying to catch up. Turning off the overdrive on hills helps a lot, both because it can't grab overdrive while climbing and because I've got some engine braking on the way back down. It changes the behavior of the torque converter, too. Mine's also got an E-AT switch, which bumps up all the shift points. I leave that one on all the time. I don't think the R50 got that switch, though. I've got a VG33 with VG30 cams in it waiting to go in my '93. That's the usual strategy for warming these up. Past that, you're looking at forced induction and/or machine work. Sounds like you've got most of the tune-up stuff dealt with. Check your ignition timing (should be 15° +/- 2 at warm idle) and check the intake boot between the MAF and the TB for damage. While you're under the hood, check the data plate in the engine bay, see if you've got HG43 or HG46 diffs. Auto usually got HG46, but if you've got HG43, you can swap in the 4.6 diffs and get a little torque back. I hear you on holding up traffic. I got passed by a Winnebago in my '95. I wasn't even trying to let him by.

I've heard of people doing it. No drag until you need it, unlike the clutch fan. You can turn it off for water crossings, so that's cool, if that's a thing you do. But it's got more parts to fail, and if the fan motor itself dies, you can't bodge it to limp home like you can with a clutch fan. It's an additional load on the alternator. I've read they struggle to move as much air as the clutch fan. I've considered an e-fan for mine. It would be nice to free up a little power and get rid of the vacuum cleaner howl at high revs when the clutch is locked up. But the fan clutch is there already, and it's reliable.

Looks like it'll take it. The rack on my WD21 has a sticker that says 80 lbs evenly distributed, but I suspect they rated it for stability rather than roof strength, so they wouldn't get sued if some muppet went canyon-carving with a piano on top.

Electric rear hatch poppers were a thing on some R50s and can be swapped in if yours didn't come with one. I know I saw a thread recently of someone doing just that, but naturally I can't find it now. This thread suggests they weren't tied into the security system, though. I don't think these ever came with electric fans, so I doubt the computer or harness was designed to run them.

Supply chain

metric hardware

elevator

Hooked it to a trailer it's entirely too small for and went on a rescue mission... for a Cub Cadet.

If you don't see smoke, I wouldn't worry too much. That's not to say it couldn't catch fire--GM did a recall for their 3800s doing exactly that--but most things I've worked on were leaking some amount of oil onto the exhaust, and none of them came in because of engine fires. I can smell the leak in our snowplow, and it annoys me, but not enough that I've bothered trying to fix it again. My friend's Toyota was leaking bad enough that the oil was pooling between the head and the exhaust manifold gasket. That one was bad enough to smoke after driving, and bad enough that we replaced the gasket for fear of it catching fire. I'm running high-mileage oil in my VG because it's cheap and why not. I haven't tracked my rear main leak to see if it's slowed any. Thicker oil might leak a little slower, but I wouldn't expect any flavor of goo-in-a-can to fix the gaskets if they're hard and cracked like mine were. If you can get to the valve cover fasteners, you might try snugging them up a little. IIRC there's also an oil cooler on the VQs that can leak, something else to check. I wouldn't assume it's a crankcase pressure issue just because it only leaks while running. The engine only pumps oil to the heads when it's running. My dad had the PCV done on his '03 (chasing the quart/1000 miles oil consumption) and the guy said he managed it without pulling the intake, but it didn't sound like he had fun doing it. It didn't solve the oil consumption. I've heard various explanations for why some VQs guzzle oil, from the design of the PCV baffles to the power valve screws falling in and chewing stuff up to excessive bore taper. My dad's smoked on warm starts, but otherwise drove fine so long as he kept oil in it. And, yeah, the IACV leaks coolant into the electronics and smokes the driver mosfet in the computer. Genius-level design at work there. The VG has its own quirks/issues, but, yeah, I wasn't impressed with the VQ.

Auto or manual? If it's auto, and it's shifting normally, that would suggest the trans computer knows what's going on even if the engine computer and gauge did not, which might help narrow it down. If it's manual, well, there's that theory shot. And, yeah, go get the '97 manual from Nicoclub. Should be some troubleshooting or at least a circuit diagram in the EL section. There's a lot of hand-holding for using the special dealer Consult tool, but there's usually an alternate method for the rest of us. If the sensor is good (and so is the gear that drives it), and both the cluster and the computer say they're not seeing anything, that would have me looking for a wiring fault in between them.