While it was in the shop for a state inspection (pass, phew!), I had the shop troubleshoot the glow plug system. They swapped out the relay, and it seems to be doing much better. The glow plug light is running a longer cycle (seemed a bit short with the previous relay) and it's definitely starting easier despite glowing for similar amounts of time (I would ignore the light and let it glow for a bit longer...with the prev relay). I'll see if the intermittent issues reoccur, but, hopefully...they won't
Oh, and they spent a couple hours working on the vacuum system and transmission shifts. I'm positively floored, cold or warm transmission, you can barely feel the shifts (and not the slightest hint of flaring). I didn't know a 23 year old transmission could behave like this. The only parts it needed was a new modulator and some vacuum lines