I can feel your pain these things can be a real PITA. Did you remove the bolt, there is ample clearance with it removed. Using the hoist is the best way to work with that 85# anchor. If you replace the lifters it will probably work out. Changing the cam and lifters is the best way and of course an aluminum manifold if it is within your budget. Be sure to always use a zink based additive in the oil to protect from cam wear. Good Luck

 

Don't forget to mark the position of both the Dizzy's rotor and main housing body before removing it. When pulling a Dizzy,I like to take the spark plugs out and spin the engine around to #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stoke 1st. Timing mark on "0". This way when you are putting it back together you are putting the Dizzy right back where it is now at the same marks. It is pre-timed. Timing should still be checked but at least you KNOW it will fire right up. And plus if you end up changing the timing chain and gears this is where the engine has to be anyways.
Also don't forget to use the Dizzy to align the intake before you tighten it down.

 

Well I think I had success! I tore everything apart last weekend and today put it all back together again. The truck started just a little slower than normal and I followed your advice and revved her up to 2K rpm for 20 minutes and other than the coolant neck leaking really bad at first and that little 2" hose from the water pump to the intake also leaking, everything seemed to have worked just fine. I had to reset the timing because I was just a little off putting the distributor back in, but other than that it works. The engine still had real bad ticking right off the bat for like 4 seconds but then it went away and stayed away, I'm guessing because the oil pressure hadn't built up in the lifter yet? I have yet to street test it, but even that 20 minutes of revving followed by the maybe 5-10 minutes idling to reset the timing it ran like it used to before that lifter collapsed. It was definitely collapsed after pulling it out and comparing it to the new one, so that for sure needed to happen. I put some of that STP oil treatment in there too because of the zinc wear additive it says it has in it, not sure if that was even necessary but figured why not.

Lessons learned: though I was able to pull the intake off as well as put it back on with the engine hoist, it was very tight not taking the hood off to do so. It was like lifting and rolling the hoist back simultaneously as well as stretching with one hand to tilt the intake so it didn't get hung up on the radiator. So either take the hood off or have two people, more so during installation than removal. It was definitely threading the needle to get that thing back on while being restricted by the hood to boom clearance of the hoist. Another lesson is to be patient enough to let the gasket shellac set up. I tried to go too quickly and failed on my first attempt because the intake didn't come down quite perfect and bumped the one gasket out of position. Made a mess of the rtv on the back as well, so had to give it a second try.

Thanks a ton for the advice on this, I really appreciate the responses!

 

Glad to hear it. Congrats on your success.
Now if you could only come over and help me pull the TH350 out of my brother's 80 Vette. Already yanked the motor and 4 speed A/T out of my other brother's donor 89 Iroc.
Lawd I hate Chebbies. Basacwards designed crap.