I'm back. yeah... family issues (pending untimely death probably in the next few days ) had me out of it for a bit. but i came back just in time to spend 8 hrs on someone else's viper.
So here is the update on mine:
tested everything (including all relays - big thanks to 1TONY1 for helping out with this over the phone) and no luck.
re-wired crank position sensor bypassing the stock harness - no luck.
took the vec2 out completely - no luck
regrouded all sensor grounds - no luck
redid everything i just listed again, but at the same time: and it worked. car started right up. lots o' spark.
at the moment, i have absolutely NO idea what the problem was. I am speculating a loose connection somewhere.
so there we have it. silly viper.
so my head swap this time took a bit longer. next time will be quicker. i'll time it again.
JD