HELP! 600 miles from home... is it the transmission?

The 82 and 83 turbo engines have a CAS Crank Angle Sensor mounted on the side of the distributor, which sends a signal to the CECU computer. The CECU then sends firing signals to what many people call the "igniter", which is part of the coil mounting bracket. It has a large power transistor, which acts as an electronic switch, to switch +12vdc to the coil primary to create the field, then cuts off the +12vdc, which allows the field to collapse and fire the secondary high voltage spark to the distributor, and thence to the spark plugs.

The CAS connector plug could be loose on the dizzy, the CECU plugs could be loose on the computer, one of several wires could be loose on the igniter coil bracket. One of those is a ground to the engine block. One gets the computer's firing signal, one goes to the coil primary. There is also a RFI noise filtering capacitor. Once in a while, they internally short circuit themselves, which will ground the +12 volts going to the coil. You can safely disconnect it to eliminate it as a possibility.

Make sure your fusible links are in good condition and are working, and tightly and cleanly connected.

Make sure your ignition switch connector is not falling off the switch contacts, under the dash on the side of the steering column.

Check the AFM Airflow Meter connector for tightness and cleanliness of the contacts.

Ensure that the distributor cap and rotor are in good condition and secure atop the dizzy. Check the spark wire from the coil to the dizzy cap.

All that should keep you busy, and you might get lucky with one of them.

Can you hear your fuel pump when this is happening? The FPM Fuel Pump Modulator (right above the CECU computer) can slow or kill the pump if it is failing, or the connector is coming loose. And the pump's electrical connections also, can be a factor if they are loose or corroded.

Good luck. I recently had this happen with my 97 Thunderbird. Turned out to be a combo of a cracked coil pack misfiring to the mounting bracket through cracks in the potting, and a fuel filter that I had neglected for much too long. Caused the engine to intermittently stall at different speeds, and tach went to zero each time, which gave me needed clues to the problems. When you get home, check the draw tube inside the tank, to be sure that the fuel strainer is not coated with varnish and gunk, check inside the fuel pump intake port for a small filtering sock which often accumulates more crud. Change your main fuel filter near the engine. Probably, this is overkill for your problem, but it won't hurt to check them anyway, just because of the age of our cars.

Well, I made it 25 miles before the car quit. I waited a minute, restarted, and turned around. In the 25 miles back to my origin it died about 12 times, most notably on the Coleman Drawbridge (no pullover). I finally made it back to my loaner car, transferred luggage, the set out for Tidewater Z Car ( a 9 mile trip). It stalled no less than 10 TIMES on a road with NO SHOULDER. I haven't had so much fun since High School!
Thankfully, I made it to the garage (where I've never had service done before). I dropped a note and the key in the night slot, called a cab, and got back to my loaner car (a brand new Lincoln... big difference between a Z car!). I made it back to Delaware in 6 hours and now I await the shop opening tomorrow morning. I sure hope he's honest because he's really got me by the short hairs here!
For those interested I'll keep an update going. It seems that the majority rule that it's the ignition module. Thankfully this guy (Tidewater Z Car) specializes in only Z-cars. For my domestic cars it took over 30 years to find a guy who I would call "honest"... can't wait to see how this all plays out.
BTW: Stopped at Autozone... they had no "Freeze-It" and thought I was lloking for refrigerant.