Moneypit - Checked out your site and do love your rides. I'm a Vette guy too but don't have any solid axles. Your 53 PU is very close to what I'm aiming for and that offy intake is way too cool. You did a beautiful job on that truck.
My valve cover has the perimeter 4 bolt attachment and the side plate does not cover the plugs. I had a bad ballast resistor and had to run the engine without the resister to get it started and I think I may have burned the points so it's off to see if I can find points/resistor this weekend. Hope the coil is OK. I do love working on real ignition systems with actual points. I've got a set of books on order, but not a numbers book so if you could run that block casting # for me I'd sure appreciate it. I'd really like to know what I've got in there.
What oil and weight do you run in yours? I'm a synthetic guy but don't know how these old inlines take to that stuff.
Thanks much. Bob