Thanks for all the responses. I'm waiting on a bunch of components to come in, a max6675, voltage regulator, crystals, n some other random stuff. I also have an atmega8 here, was like $3 on ebay.. Would this be large enough to hold a sketch to control a good bit of stuff? I.e., running the lcd, controlling a few relays via input from the lcd/throttle position sensor/some other engine parameters, running the max6675 + k type tc, also possibly controlling when the torque converter locks up / overdrive for the transmission..
One last question, if i get a touch screen display that doesn't use SPI(?) or i2c, are there any libraries that are out there where i can use a shift register(s) to lower the number of pins needed? Now i've got a 74hc595 running a 1602 lcd with a new liquidcrystal library someone else made.