Remember reading your pist on that while investigating 'everything' !.. thanks four input here.Glad you found it, that was quite the process and great effort.
Had similar problem with plugs. Friend of mine told me to try E3 plugs. Truck would not start below 30 degrees. Engine had 230k on it. Figured it was just wore out.
For some reason I swapped plugs back to cheap autolites and it was like a new truck again.