Husker - I am really impressed with the Edelbrock carb. and aluminum intake on my 400. It really did wonders to the motor. The carb. was pretty much tuned out of the box. In conjuction with all of this I also took off all the smog gear (since the truck came from California), but left the PCV system in tact. I accidentally plugged the passenger side inlet in the valve cover, started the truck and about a half quart of oil dumped out the back of the oil pan. I searced the archives in the big forum, and read that this happens if the motor can't 'breathe'. Made for a nervous moment for me when I saw all the oil dumping out. Since I managed to mangle the passenger side valve cover inlet, I went to the local parts store and got a fancy little valve cover breather. Fixed it right up.
My truck has the auto C6. I used Edelbrock's throttle cable linkage with no problems, although it took me a few minutes to figure out how it worked. The kickdown lever adapter is another story. The kickdown and the throttle linkage bind up when used together. I am looking into the Lokar cable, as I have read good things about their products. For the time being I am running around without the kickdown to no real ill effect. Hope this helps anyone who may be thinking about these parts. Since I bought the truck a month ago I have done the following: new 33x12.50x16.5 mud tires, thermostat, rear axle seal on driver side, pinion seal, carb and intake, coil, battery and cables, locking hood latch courtesy of junk yard (my truck key actually fits the lock), belts, de-smog, re-timed, tuned up, etc. All this made a world of difference.
etk in kck
79 F350 4x4 supercab super camper special

 

You gotta get some pics of her up in your gallery!!!!!!

 

Sounds like you did a bunch of work. I'm anxious to get my 400 running. I also have a 54 F250 that I put a 460/C6 combo into. It has an edelbrock carb and I was able to use the stock C6 kickdown rod on it. If I remember right I had to do some creative bending to get it to the point where it would work right along with adjustments at the carb. That was several years ago. It has worked well since then. If it would help you I could take a look at it again to see what I did and how it is hooked up.