Got everything back together and started her up around 2:30 this afternoon.
Went for a short test drive, and had no leaks with the exception of the thermostat bleed screw that I forgot to close, and some oil from a valve cover bolt hole that i didn't have a bolt to fill. I tightened up the bleed screw and added some more coolant, then drove to the hardware store to pick up a bolt, washer, and neoprene washer. Got it installed and snugged down and everything is doing just fine now.
The intake sounds incredible at WOT. Very deep and very loud; even louder than the exhaust at times. The throttle response is super quick. A slight blip of the pedal that used to reach 15-20% throttle, now sends the engine to ~50% throttle and jumping to 3k rpm. Taking off from a stop is tricky now, since the throttle is so touchy, and hard to control at part throttle.
The car desparately needs a tune, and I need to install some performance valve springs and retainers before then so I can safely rev it out.
Last night when I got most of the coolant lines and vacuum lines connected, I was appalled that I hadn't even considered where to mount the throttle cable. So I picked up some scrap laminate from the plate I made, and fabbed up a throttle cable bracket.
Before...
After!
I have a friend who's going to cut one out of aluminum for me once I get a chance to pull this one off and measure it.