Gary – I like your creative ideas for memory systems. 
I have hand movements for the nine vowels in my mnemonic systems (PDF). Running through my 000-999 syllables over and over did create a little bit of synesthetic relationship between the vowels and a sense of a movement. It doesn’t work like an abacus, but I think that it does create another association.
See also: Developing a Mnemonic System for Music
All my images also rhyme. Example: 14, 24, 34, 44, 54, etc. all rhyme (TA, NA, MA, RA, LA) and have the same movement based on the vowel (4 = A).
Some images have their own movement – even if I don’t physically complete it, my mind goes through the motion.