I drove the 100 mile round trip to the machine shop yesterday and came home disappointed. They haven't done anything to my engine since the last time I talked to them. They have had several engines come in after I told them to put mine on hold, plus they are doing their normal day to day machine shop jobs that help keep the doors open. The good news is that since they're done with my block and were getting ready to start the balancing process, it is going to be easier for them to finish my work than to start another project. Plus, I pointed out that one of the other projects was an engine that I referred to them, so my engine should be in front of his! They agreed.
I dropped off my Air Gap manifold so that they could port match it while they are cleaning up the Edelbrock heads. I talked to him about running a timing chain tensioner and he agreed that it would be a good idea for what they cost, so I ordered it today along with a couple of smaller pieces (bronze distributor gear and oil slinger for the camshaft). When these parts show up, I'll run them out there to him. I'm going to keep showing up every couple of weeks til they get the idea that I'm ready to finish this project!