Well guys, I got it dropped in this weekend. Bunch of stuff to hook up but the major lift is done.

Just FYI, we were able to drop it in as a complete assembly. Engine, trans, gear vendor, long tube exhaust manifolds, starter, all attached. We had the alternator hung on the front, it caused a bit of a rub with the battery tray, so we took it off quick rather than remove the battery tray. Raising the back of the car on the lift helps a ton.

Looks really good back in the car. I like installing at least the engine and trans in one shot if I can, I  just think most of the time it's a lot easier. Getting it in with the headers and GV also on is really nice!

Pioneer also offers replacement bypass tubes in the stock configuration. I think you can still get the thread in brass ones from several places (or make your own) and Blue Thunder still has the stainless stock style press in tubes.

My next question for the paint guys is would the gold on the valve covers be able to handle the high engine temperature?

Pretty much any catalyzed paint, enamel or urethane in either single stage or 2/3 stage paints will hold up to engine temperatures much better than any spray can will. If you don't need a specific paint code, you can also get catalyzed high temperature paints from PPG, DuPont, Valspar and Sherwin/Martin. I'm sure there are others, but those are high temp paints I've sprayed before.

Take an temp measurement of your hood or roof skin after it's been parked outside on a hot summer day and you won't worry about your valve cover temp anymore! Especially if it's a dark color.

All of my modern starters are wired like that with battery power directly to the starter mounted solenoid and the original Ford solenoid provides the momentary signal.

Copper coat or Hytac I think are the best. But I have seen, and used enamel in a spray bomb in a pinch and it worked.

I have a slightly different philosophy, having spent many years around very large things with huge oil pans and hydraulic tanks, which get very hot and transfer the heat into the air- you'd never want to touch the hyd tank on a big excavator at the end of the day, as it makes a helluva big part of the cooling system. In those rockers, I like just enough clearance to ensure a good flow of oil for cooling of the rockers and springs, and concentrate on ways to efficiently return the heated oil to the pan and/ or cooler to carry the heat away. I like to have as much flow for cooling as I can without flooding the covers, rather than restrict the flow way down- there are ways. And managed to say that with words not exceeding 11 letters, as most of you already know I am just a Dumbshit 7th Class (AKA Hillbilly) like everyone else, and if I started trying to impress people with a lot of bullroar word salad, folks would think that Fender Lizard had hijacked my account- quite a few of you have been around long enough to get that one lol 

I worked on some logging processors that moved hyd oil through the tanks so fast we plumbed a line from the intake to the hyd tank with a check valve to put boost in the tank to help keep the suction side of the pumps from cavitating. Those tanks also had bolt on heat sinks on them and by mid-day you could cook bacon on them. I never tried, but I did heat up my lunch on them more than once while on long duration service calls!

I'm also a fan of oil flow within reason. Maybe in a drag race engine you would/could limit the amount of oil in there quite a bit. But for a street application as much oil flow is as practical without causing another issue like pumping the covers full or causing windage or drainback issues I think helps. The cooler stuff runs the longer it'll last. But that's just my .02 and it's probably not worth half that with inflation so....

Another option is the Eaton E-locker. They're a factory option on newer Super Duty's and swap into the older Sterling's with just changing the tone ring. I've found several in the yards around here for under 100 bucks. The E-lockers are pretty tuff. I have one in my trail truck in the front Dana 60 on 40's and so far I haven't hurt it.

A PVC pulls a vacuum if functioning correctly - running with open breathers will INCREASE crankcase pressure as the vapor has to be "pushed" out of the breathers vs the PCV drawing it out.

What do you mean rubber seal, there are several types of main seal materials? Also what type of side seals are you using? The elastomer side seals don't work very well in my experience and I've had much better luck just using RTV to seal them.

I doubt you will find any seal material that will fix a rear main leaks that happens within 50 miles, that would indicate a mechanic issue. Bearing bore, crank finish, crank seal diameter, etc is an issue and on a seal problem. You can still get 1 piece rear main seals for an FE I think, but I've never really found it's any better than a good quality standard seal with RTV to seal the cap.