Starting it cold, like first thing in the morning, it should idle around 1200-1500. As it warms up, it should steadily drop down to around 750 to 800 in park/neutral, 650 to 700 in gear.
If you blip the throttle, the car drops under 500 and dies? I think I'd check the dashpot for that. It's supposed to catch the throttle and let it drop smoothly to idle.
As far as you're other idle concerns, it wouldn't hurt to clean the idle motor. The last one I did, I had to completely disassemble it, clean and grease the stepper motor, and reassemble in order to make it work right. The old grease was hard, and making the motor stick. Be careful of the washer that sits up in there, it has to be set right side up.