Digital BW, The Print

I have just finished creating a nice smooth QTR curve for EEM paper for my new Epson 1400.  There are however two issues that I would like to clarify before moving on to creating custom curves for more expensive fine art papers (Hot Press Natural, Photo Rag, Velvet Fine Art etc...).  The solution to both my issues might be interrelated which is why I am putting them in the same post.  But first to the equipment that I am using:  New Epson 1400 bought last week at BHphoto, New sets (2)of refillable MIS cartridges (bought last week), Set of 4oz MIS EB6 inks (bought last week), Colormunki spectrophotometer (LAB values for curve creation), QTR 2.7.0.0 (two 2.7.0.1 patched files that fixed "Calibration Chart" glitches), Windows XP SP3.  Ink carts were filled, primed(EB6 inks),and installed in virgin EPSON 1400 by me about 3 days ago.  All nozzles seem to be firing well.  Only had one misfiring nozzle(Magenta) on the morning of my second day after installation of the new inks.  One cleaning cycle took care of that and I have only had 100% good results on "Nozzle Check" since.  I get very smooth prints on EEM using my custom "EB5" curve (see below why I left out Light Cyan to create my curve).  No microbanding, no density shifts in smooth areas such as the sky, no "inkjet marks" in the direction of the printhead movement whatsoever WHEN USING A FULL SET OF INK.  

Issue #1:  When printing Black Only (using the MIS EEM-BO curve that comes standard with the QTR profiles) I get density shifts that are noticeable in smooth sky sections.  These are basically stripes (1/2 inch wide along the direction of the printhead movement) with slight but regular shifts in density.  These stripes are gone when using the full set of ink by using my "EB5" curve described below.  

Issue #2:  When printing the 100% and 35% calibration chart I noticed that there is not much difference in the density of Light Cyan and Light Magenta.  I thus left out Light Cyan when creating my curve since it printed warmer than Light Magenta (LAB B values were consistently higher on EEM paper).  The strange thing is that in my Epson 1400 printer and when printing out the second calibration chart (@ 35%), the max density of my Light Magenta was slightly higher than that of my Light Cyan (L=57.8 for LM vs L=62.7 for LC).  Again this is at the 35% ink limit for both.  According to Paul Roarks PDF the LC solution should be a stronger mix.  So I looked at the 100% calibration chart (the first one).  There both LM and LC seem to max out at about the same density (perhaps a reasonable compromise to make printing with the EPSON driver simple for those that choose that route).  So it seems that their (LM and LC) Eboni mixtures are very close.  It also seems that my 1400's default density gradient for the LM nozzles is steeper than for the LC.  Is this how the 1400 is designed or is my MIS LC cartridge causing too much back pressure?

As for a solution to my BO problem, I was thinking of sacrificing the LC from my EB6 mix and replacing it with a second 100% Eboni mix.  This second K might help in getting better BO prints by statistically averaging out nozzle inconsistencies in my BO prints.  Would this be a viable alternative or should I get to the root of my BO problem.  If so what could be a solution to my stripes in my BO prints?  Another advantage of keeping the standard LC dilution is that it will make those google map directions look much nicer when printing through the standard epson driver :-)

I know I am throwing out a lot of info in just one posting but it all seems interconnected.  any input would be much appreciated!!!!