[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah, I am really happy wit the shop's work. They've been in business 45 years, so they've got a reputation to maintain.

tmobile, one of the very first things I asked about was the sealed vacuum port. Turns out my engine is way over cammed and only runs about 11 inches of vacuum at idle. According to the shop it oughta be about 18-20 inches. So, in the future is a cam change. I'll probably revert to a stock 283 cam. As it is, it has little low end torque and with the single plane Holley manifold it HAD, it was really a dog at low RPM. BUt it was SO out of good tune it was hard to be sure. To get it running as well as it is now the timing is set at 22 degrees BTDC and 40 degrees total. Its got good compression but the shop feels with a stock cam I'll likely pick up 10-15psi across the board. Incidentally, I inadvertantly kicked it down a gear at about 55 mph on the way home and it flats screams from that point up! Not too useable, but impressive.

Why are you advising to hook up the PCV? This engine had a road draft tube originally. It has little to no blow-by now so its not like I'm contributing to pollution much and I don't like the clutter. I'll definitely take a look into the throttle rod you advise. Thanks for the info. Now I want to see a photo of a stock setup to see how its supposed to look?