The issue above ended up being a fuelcut issue - super easy to fix but I replaced the trans and diff mounts anyway.
Now I'm tacking one of the biggest things I have left to make this car pleasant to drive - the loud groaning steering rack.
I've replaced the pump and have seen no difference so I am on to the rack next.
I took some pics during the process...

Had to disconnect the brake booster and the clutch master to slave line to get at everything so I'll need to bleed all that stuff tomorrow...

This "S" shaped wrench saved my life here:

Was able to get the old rack out without messing with the heater core hoses. They're homemade and have some give in them.
I did take out the tie rods from the passengers side as a single piece and then got the rack out...

Everything out...

I got the new one in, all attached inside the cabin and put the brakes all back together. Tomorrow I'll bleed clutch and brake lines. I've left the intake manifold off for now in case I need to get to the slave from above.
The damper is does not have a ton of resistance so I will likely replace it as well. Anyone know a good source for them? all the ones I found online were from the UK
While I'm in there and have the intake manifold off, I have been working on a solution to the coolant temp gauge being way off. The issue is that the sensor on an ABH gives a very different reading for 90* than the coupe's original Thermoswitch did. As a result, I've had an unreliable reading from the instrument cluster.
My solution is to install a coupe spec thermoswitch where the sensor on the ABH lives (drivers side head at the front by the radiator).
It doesn't fit thanks to the ABZ intake manifold so I did some trimming of the switch to make it work. I'll try to wire it up tomorrow:

Can anyone confirm that the pin that was omitted on the newer switches is the 15a pin?

In other news, I have another coupe that I'm in the midst of buying - also a red on black 1990.
This one is 73,000 miles and has sat since 1999.