Ray - Opening the hood doesn't seem to help. Placing a 2 inch fiber spacer under the carbs would help, but would also significantly impact the idle quality.
Using Holleys instead of Carters would help (the bowls on the Holleys have an air gap between the bowls and the manifold), but would totally kill the fuel mileage.
The electric pump basically solves the problem as best it can with the "compromise" (engine modifications) that I have selected.
Jon.