Well that was short lived....
Ended up having an electrical gremlin and the truck would just shutting down. Decided it was the old MSD stuff that the previous owner had. I put in a HEI and haven't had an issue since.
Update on the steering: Ended up replacing the steering box. Was fighting a couple of
stubborn leaks and had a bind with the rag joint, but now it everything is smooth and responsive. Much nicer than the old worn out box.
So this past Sunday I got the truck out for a cruise to test out the steering. Was just cruising down the street and got a nasty sounding misfire. I just turned around and went home. Monday night I pulled the valve cover off to find the rocker stud on cylinder #5 was snapped in half.
Last night I pulled a good stud to get some measurements to order new rocker studs and found the valve spring on cylinder #1 is cracked and the spring is basically riding on itself.
So now the heads need to come off and I need to figure out how to rebuild them or what to replace them with.
Total miles driven on project....48