noted. for the above poster, who called the MSD coils trash, the coils (with new plugs and wires) definitely improved idling and starting, and throttle response. i see nothing wrong with them. they seem good for 50k miles. (most cars i change coils/plugs/wires every 50k or so anyway)

yeah the temps aren't really a problem, radiator looks fine, its just the PWM that keeps the temps slightly higher in city driving than highway, but it only gets to 3/4 of the gauge and stays there, so not in the danger zone.

Just got a ZZP PCM and KN filter (drop in, im not sold on a cold air intake unless im taking the headlight out LOL...and im not), so that's next.

Remaining issues (for the price, so far seems great -- im gonna try resolving these before swapping the PCM)
- have a very intermittent gas cap message + engine light but it only came on once or twice in 2 months, never on otherwise. Still debugging that one. Nothing happens different when its on. Thinking its a sensor. or small evap leak. or canister. not sure
- sometimes has trouble starting consecutive times. battery looks good. maybe its the charging system? alternator? serp belt? getting those things looked at (battery/alt/serp) on the 22nd