I guess it's just a matter of starting off with something newer than 1970's iron. That, and I could never find a really good dual-plane high-rise intake manifold for them. If you wanted to use my favorite intake, the Edelbrock 7161, you had to use spacer plates with it and then you increased your chances of leaks and other problems and it just got too messy. There are intake manifolds made for the tall deck block in single plane design, but I never liked them. I like the easy 540 cubic inches with a 4.500" bore and 4.250" crank in an 8.2 block. Check marine shops for used blocks or purchase new from GMPP, PN 19170540.
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