Well she passed!
I put a new rotor, cap, wires, plugs, and cat on the truck, timed her up, and she passed emissions with flying colors so we're legal in the sense that we have tags now! just no headlights or brake lights
So that leads me to our next Saga of repair: the lighting circuit.
i've replaced the headlight switch and the wiring going to it. There appears to be power here. I've also checked at the stop fuse, power here as well, and the brake light switch seems to be functioning properly too. I can get the high beams and parking lamps to come on, as well as the parking lamps and the license plate lamps in the rear. I'm pretty stumped here, so could anyone give me a diagnostic procedure here to help me figure out what my issue is?
lastly: can anyone ID this plug under the dash?