Guys,
Thanks for all the advice. But if you'll notice near the bottom this post was "resurrected" after 4 months of inactivity. So some of these issues have been resolved. Specifically.
1. The timing gear noise has disappeared (nothing changed - just normal driving).
2. The engine feels more powerful now than it did before.
3. The throttle cable issue has been resolved. Replaced the expensive Lokar cable with a cheap one from AutoZone. Throttle now works like a charm.
The only other issue I'm still concerned about is the temp gauge - and I have that one figured out (bad gauge - the new higher voltage alternator must have fried it). The others I'm not too concerned about. Still running a little too rich and now the speedometer doesn't work
at all 
. But I can easily cruise with the state highway traffic and push cars out of the way on the local interstate, where traffic averages 75 mph. I have a new speedo cable, yet to be installed. If that doesn't work forget it!
-ftyler
