Well just to update, I did get the gasket replaced and so far she looks dry as a bone. I also changed the oil and oil filter, and took a sample of the old oil which I'll send off to Blackstone Labs this week. Will be interesting to see how she's holding up with 129,500 miles on junk (in my opinion) 5W20 oil. The stuff runs out like water.
Anyway..... regarding question #3 from my post above, the owners manual states to fill the car through the reservoir, heat it up, let it cool all the way down, then fill through the reservoir. Repeat this process until coolant doesn't drain from the reservoir. Well, that did NOT work in my case. Car got really hot about 2 miles out of town and I had to pull over and stop the engine. After she cooled I made the final 1 mile home and she was about 3/4 of the way up the temp gauge. Never got into the "red zone" but she did get hot. After she cooled down, the reservoir was full. I pulled the plug from the intake crossover and it was empty. I added a full gallon of coolant and water.
So apparently, you have to fill completely full at the crossover AND reservoir, THEN follow the instructions in the owners manual and keep topping off at the reservoir until you're good to go.
Just a FYI in case somebody else does this job on their car.