Well the head swap is complete. Took a long time to get everything hooked back up, as I was also cleaning up some wiring which took forever. But what really took forever was coming up with a throttle linkage arrangement, as there is very little room between this huge carb and the valve cover. I spent about a week on that job, you can see the photos below. It was made from eight pieces of aluminum angle/channel and some hardware. All the cutting and polishing was done by hand and this literally took an eternity. On the right hand side you can see the throttle cable; to the left (the only place I could think of putting it) will go the transmission kickdown cable, but it's not hooked up in the photos yet.
After getting everything put back together I fired her up to see what would happen. Keep in mind I still had the stock exhaust and the stock rockers.
A) My half-ass job on the stock exhaust manifold meant there were leaks, which began to melt paint, and cause a horrible stench.
B) Stock rockers seemed to do fine for the first ten minutes or so, which I was glad for, since as mentioned I didn't do any valve lash checking. However after a few minutes of driving they started to make an increasing amount of god-awful noise.
C) Transmission would shift from 1st to 2nd, but not from 2nd to 3rd. Not sure if this was something to do with not having the kickdown hooked up, or maybe a vacuum leak somewhere.
D) No hot air choke tube hooked up to the carb meant the car kept wanting to take away from me. Combined with the fact my throttle return springs weren't adjusted tight enough, and the throttle wouldn't return to idle, I had a real beast on my hands for my few passes around the block.
E) Also found a fuel leak dripping right onto the exhaust...
The good news was my head didn't explode, the head gasket seemed fine, and none of the cooling hoses were leaking coolant, which in the past has been the bane of my existence. (Note to self though - Spectre steel hose braiding isn't worth it).
So anyway I have a good list of things to take care of. I've been working on her every day for the last two weeks and was getting pretty burnt out though, so I decided to take a break. Yesterday I stripped out the entire exhaust from engine to tailpipe, and this morning I towed her into the shop to have the headers installed. Once those are done that should allow me to install my choke stove, allowing the engine to actually idle. Also I'll know what kind of room I have to deal with to install my transmission kickdown cable, which will be running on the exhaust side. In the meantime I also took off the carb and I'm going to be fiddling with my linkages. I didn't really explore what was causing the valvetrain noise, I'm going to think about that later when I've gotten rested up.
I test fit the headers myself yesterday and I think they'll go on ok. It looked to me they would actually clear the starter, but they do hit some of the AC tubing (thankfully not the AC compressor). Transmission oil cooler lines are also in the way and will have to be re-routed as well. It's nice to have someone else do a bit of work on this for a change, though I'll probably feel different when I see the bill...
Anyway, that's where we stand. Now to find a place to dump this rusty old exhaust cluttering up my living room.
Luke
Massively complicated and convoluted throttle linkage.
If I ever have to polish a piece of aluminum by hand again I will need some whiskey first.
Clean them up good (even polish the rubbing surface some) and run them even if you don't get the rockers for awhile takes a long time to wear the valve tips unless the arms are worn bad. 
