[markjohnson]

If you go ahead with the head rebuild this winter, please make replacing those heavy two piece welded valves your first priority along with good retainers and keepers. These motors were notorious for breaking/dropping valves and this usually wipes out an entire motor. This is especially true on 4-speed cars with Ronnie Sox/Dave Strickler wannabes, but a great idea on all these old performance big blocks. Even the cheapest Manley valves are a vast improvement in performance and reliability. This is something I need to get around to also. By the way, we probably have the same intake. It is the #569 aluminum low-rise pancake manifold. I know you have the shaker hood on your 'Bird, but if you could fit the earlier GM aluminum hi-rise on the motor, it's worth quite a bit more power. Worth the effort.