yup, already there...

OK,,, thanks for all the suggestions, and I found the problem. I had recently done a transmission rebuild and had a bold in the torque converter crooked somehow. This was causing distortion of the flexplate, thus messing with the timing. I took out all the torque converter bolts and reinstalled them in a criss-cross pattern to pull the converter in straight. There still seems tobe a slight wobble to the flexplate but now it runs like new. I think I'll go ahead and order a new flexplate.
So,, lesson to myself,,, take a very close look at everything before spending over $650 in non-returnable parts.

Ed

so you were loosing your crank sensor signal then... wow, how did you find it? did you yank the inspection plate?

Yes, I removed the dust cover from the transmission and watched as a buddy cranked over the engine.
I went back to the area for a couple reasons. I did a lot of research on "open loop" vs. "closed loop" operation, and I remembered that I had some trouble getting one torque converter bolt in.