Was planning on it, any info as to why that's a bad idea would be appreciated.

Said and done I want the system to look moderately stock, so I pulled an air cleaner from the donor vehicle and chopped out the mounting base and did the same on the base of my 235 air cleaner. I welded the two together, sealed the inside gaps with Copper RTV, and now will be looking for an air cleaner element that fits inside. Here are a few pics of the process:

The air cleaners side by side:
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m537/kjhibbs99/Apache%20Rebuild/d091f763.jpg

Donor mounting base next to the 235 air cleaner:
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m537/kjhibbs99/Apache%20Rebuild/1290fa22.jpg

The two welded together:
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m537/kjhibbs99/Apache%20Rebuild/5596d1cc.jpg

Painted up and sitting on the TBI unit:
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m537/kjhibbs99/Apache%20Rebuild/86d771a7.jpg

1959 Chevy Apache 3600

My rebuild album, including my reference shots:

http://s1130.photobucket.com/albums/m537/kjhibbs99/Apache%20Rebuild/