Kingman

Do it all from underneath

That's usually an indication that the alternator is going bad. Those are the lights that come on when low voltage is sensed. It'd be a good idea to have it checked before he tears the front of the motor down.

A/B-Series is from '84-'3/87. W-Series engines are from '4/87 on. A/B vs. W has nothing to do with injection type. '86+ blocks all interchange since that's when they started building the (W)D21s. You can swap an earlier one but you have to modify the motor mounts to match the block bosses. And yeah, the single cam and dual cam motors don't interchange heads. They do cranks and pumps and stuff like that with some work.

Don't think so. But different arms wouldn't affect the CV issue since they are attached to the subframe that needs to be dropped down (SFD drop kit) if you want to go any higher.

I've had this issue before and it ended up being a fusible link at the battery. Mine all looked fine at a glance but we're corroded inside. I replaced them all at once and have not had the issue since. This was 5 years ago or more.

Sounds like it. Have never had an issue with Spicer U-joints and I've installed many... also consider they make the factory parts for most rear wheel drive trucks. Nowadays factory Spicer parts with 200k miles on them are still perfectly fine.

I've had my '88 for almost nine years now and my '04 for a year and a half.

Make sure the frame isn't bent.

Swap coils around see if the miss follows or doesn't. If it does you have a bad coil out of the box. Not unheard of. If it doesn't, could be a broken plug (oopsies on your part) or bad wiring somewhere in the harness. Could be a bad injector as well, or wiring there again. Hopefully not a mechanical issue.

My '04 will kick down to 2nd gear until around 68mph but it tachs out pretty quick and shifts into 3rd

Did you replace the fusible links when you replaced the battery ends?

Should always always always leave the torque converter with the trans. Reason being there's a seal for the input shaft that easily gets damaged when removing or installing. If it gets torn it'll leak live a siv. That and it gives that much more room to work with.

I've cleaned tons of drive by wire throttle bodies and haven't had an issue other than the occasional re-learn on Toyotas. If you can consistently change the idle with spray then you definitely have a leak that needs to be addressed. The VQs also have an issue with the IACV going bad causing idle issues and sometimes shorting out the computer not long after. But first things first...

PMd. I'm in the Vancouver area

Loose tie rod ends, loose wheel bearings, worn rack bushings, lack of caster all can cause the problem. Since caster is not typically adjustable on strut type set ups, some shops will use camber to point the tires "up the hill". Basically close to positive or positive camber on the left and negative camber on the right. \ \ That being said, that tire in particular is known to cause handling/wandering issues. I frequently see that happen especially on large SUVs or large vans.