Pete,
head over to the Solar Chat forum...all the answers are there....
http://solarchat.solarastronomy.org/index.php/en/
Quick answers:
1. Early morning gives the steadiest seeing
2. Yes. No easy way...trial and plenty of practise...
3. As many exposures as you can! Autostakker2 seems to be better for solar..
4. No darks but you may need flats to correct gradients...
(Interested...what are you doing with the LISA???)