Hi Al,
Your friend is doing the right thing.........As I see it, the only other option would be to fiberglass the hood shut so no one would ever know about the motor, and then get himself a wooden leg and one of those blue handicapped parking passes to hang from his mirror. That might justify the automatic
.
As far as the conversion goes, I did the same thing a couple of years ago, 428 and Toploader, and it was very easy. I've got the drawings from E-M around here some where and I would be happy to send a copy of them to your friend. I've also got the drawings for the Jag IRS conversion if anyone needs those.
I have not done the headers yet, but I plan on building them myself.
-Jon Miller