Tom,
You and I think alike. Except I took a little different route. I bought the 514 short block and CJ heads from Ford Racing and speced and assembled the rest myself. Crane roller hydraulic cam set up for street use, Crane roller rockers, Crane dual valve springs, Manley valves, Crane double roller billet steel timing set, Canton road race pan with high volume pump. Started with the Performer RPM intake, but found it was too tall. So, changed to a Performer intake. Not especially happy with that and will probably determine the difficulties in raising the hood scoop before I settle on one or the other. Can't seem to get enough air filter area in the way it is. I have an Edelbrock 750 CFM carb with vacuum secondaries and electric choke. Going for a street performer all the way.
Now, just how similar are we? I haven't heard mine either. I'm probably a month away from firing it in the rolling chassis. Of course, I'm not nervous just because I built all these expensive parts myself. I have ultimate confidence
I'll post my experience when I get to the big day.
Chuck