1972 corvette 454 rebuild, I am getting ready to do a rebuild on a 454 for my 72 corvette. I do not want to change the stock appearance which limits me to a cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds with a Q jet carburetor. I also need around 14” of manifold vacuum; with these limitations would it be worth while to do a 496 build? Would there be any gain using a 427 390 Hp aluminum manifold which I can paint orange over the cast iron The car has a 4:11 rear end gear with a manual trans.

Thanks Ed