Patience is not my thing... so I went ahead and just put my faith in Shiv and loaded up the v4.01 E85 Stg 2+ tune.
The checksum error is just like in the old tune, no big deal- but the message is a little different this time. Just like before, I loaded up the new tune file and edited it (I updated the ECU Definition file in ROM Raider first) just like before. It all look identical to me, a non-tuner type of guy.
Opened up the new OFM after updating, it all looks identical to me. I hooked it up to my PC and (after the update) cleared up some old files and replaced with the new ones. Same as ever.
Hooked it up to the car and went through the same steps as before and loaded up the new tune file that I edited (changed FFS and LC and idle RPM). Same as before. The only thing that has really changed are that everything has to be updated and the tunes are new.
The new Stg 2+ E85 tune sounds great! No more cold start racket (my neighbors thank you, @
shiv). The car has more pops and burbles than before (yess) FFS and LC worked fine. The car sounds different in general too. In the middle RPMs I hear some of that same sound I used to hear on the Stg 2 93 EL tune, with the more aggressive timing. Hopefully that means the erstwhile dip turns into a hill

Everything sounds and feels great!
Thank You Open Flash Performance, @
shiv as well as @
steve99 and @
Wayno (I know you guys were all involved in this!)