Gerry,
When you say, "I always have to let it warm up...." how long is that? Sometimes I have remind myself that these are carburated, non-computerized beasts of burden that need a bit of time to warm up. Not long, but longer than my wife's 2010 Fusion. On days above freezing, her Fusion prefers about a minute of warm idling before being shifted out of Park mode. My ol' beasts fitted with 390" of V8 prefers about two minutes before being asked to move...and I may have to feather the throttle a bit during that time. Yep, sometimes two minutes seems like a L-O-N-G time, but I try to look at it as 'bonding time' with the old fella prior to venturing out & down the drive.......

Before you start retro-fitting it with new, modern parts,,, allow me to suggest you try to make the OEM-style distributor stuff work - because it will work adequately if in good working order. If it's worn out, then decide on if you want to re-build it or update it. If it was me, I doubt I would loose much sleep in search of a set of OEM crossover exhaust manifolds, as they will 'brand your hide' if you bump up against them when they're hot. But, if you respect them, they do make for an additional conversation topic when the hood is open.......

BarnieTrk

 

The added conversation over the cross over pipe is a for sure thing that WILL happen if the hood is open when showing and telling....People are amazed and joyful to see that crossover pipe usually as a conversation opener then see a generator, a carburetor, an oil bath air cleaner and a clean uncluttered engine compartment.... especially in a truck that is used everyday I dont have an "eye problem" you know where "I cant see going to work"....drum cymbal sound here please....I have just replaced another driver side manifold to keep the crossover pipe alive. The end u ear on the manifold that secures the manifold to the engine head there close to the firewall was found already broken when I removed it in the head job I just did. I had to use my back up manifold. Honestly, If I hadnt JUST 20 days ago just had the down pipe fitted with a flex coupler so I could quit eating the gasket at the collector to down pipe there on the passenger side manifold, I might have instead elected to install a set of rams horn dual exhaust manifolds and also added the 2nd muffler....The next time there is a leak etc might push me that way....I could of course also use the power gain for the gasoline Im already using if I went dual exhaust....I live San Diego where we might encounter 40 degree temperatures maybe 10 days per year otherwise we will be in the 60's until 10 am and then in the low 70's for 260 days and over 80 for 60 or so days....my truck starts on half a turn of the starter without pulling the choke cable so all of that cold weather engineering is unnecessary for my consideration....I like the original look and design

 

Carburetor icing doesn't really have anything to do with outside freezing temperatures, as many aircraft pilots have found out the hard way. The high velocity venturi air creates about a 70° F temperature differential. High humidity is a factor.

 

Alrighty....thank you Tedster9...once again Iam learning something...now when I speak to a tech at BMW I can ask him what he knows about carburetor icing....the guys who fix those modern very sophisticated in all ways cars are very smart. A few of them are also owners of older Ford trucks....of course there are others in many of the other shops I visit with Ethyl TTT who are interested etc...but now I can offer another conversation starter...there is no shortage of starters but this one should be extra fun.... still I dont have any(knock on wood I guess.....icing issues... what would the symptoms be???....
I havent driven Ethyl yet since the cylinder head work.Im interested to see what improvement this work may have done for my engine performance..Im waiting to finish adding the Evans Coolant. I erred in not ordering enough Evans Prep Fluid. They sell it in 64 oz containers and 1 gallon containers...I initially only ordered 4 gallons thinking it would be enough to mostly fill the cooling system. Then when I saw that the radiator tank didnt even show any of this product in it, I rethought my strategy and decided to do what all others have said "following Evan's instructions completely" and their instructions say FILL THE COOLING SYSTEM, so I ordered 3 more containers....that are coming today...but then I just noticed I ordered the 64 oz containers....if my system is truly 22 quarts....I just made it....if not tomorrow?