Don,

I don't like to lift with the intake because I usually have the transmission bolted on which makes the intake too far forward to balance the load. . . it goes nose up/tail down. I just rig a chain harness using the bolt holes in the front and back of the heads, or just the front of the heads and a loop around the tailshaft.

If you just snug up the bolts (or nuts if you use studs), the plate will lift the engine just fine. Each of the bolts only has to lift 130 lbs or so.

I also made a po-boy chain lift. The strut is a piece of scrap heavy-wall 1-1/2" tubing and the tabs are 1/8" steel stock. I attach a lift ring to the top in in whichever hole it takes to balance, and attach four chains to the tabs on the bottom with those screw-type chain links. 3/8" bolts through the chain to the heads, and you've got a pretty good lift made from scraps.

See drawing (not to scale). The tube is equal to the length of the engine from front of heads to back of heads.