Update on this, the cowl vents were found to be rusted out. On side had a dodgy repair job on it, the other side was rusted quite bad. The boys at SMS did a great job cutting out the rust affected parts and replacing them with sheetmetal. As I'm running an aftermarket a/c kit which uses plugs to eliminate the vents, I got the boys to just delete the vents. They also added larger drain holes to hopefully get that water more efficiently in the future.
The engine/tranny are mock fitted, with a new hole made for the shifter as it was moved rearward a few inches. A new driveshaft has been made up, and the next step is it to go off to the exhaust shop to see if they can make the 2.5" magnaflow exhaust fit under the x brace
. Which brings me to my next issue.
The JBA headers didn't fit with the combination of the heads, dellow bellhousing, borgeson power steering pump and the fact the engine has been moved around a bit. So, I went back to my original idea of using HiPo manifolds. Got a set for pretty cheap, mocked them up last week, and voila, fit like a glove. Just clears the RM engine mounts and bellhousing. Plus about 1 inch clearance to the steering box. Yes, they won't be as high performing as long tubes or custom headers, but they will do for now. I have other things that need money spent on right now.
Will get some pics of the progress in the coming week.
Ps. The motor will be cleaned up before it goes in for the final time. Looking at chrome powder coating the upper/lower intake manifold, serpentine brackets, and also have polished Canton valve covers, plus a pretty RRS brace and other chrome pieces ;)