Aluminum intake install - 340

It's not common these days but sometimes the inner gasket rails need to be notched a bit so they'll sit flush on the heads.
TRUE! I put and Edelbrock Air Gap on my 340 about 15 years ago. At the same time, I bought a pair of Edelbrock stamped steel / chrome plated valve covers. I was really surprised that I had to notch the valve covers in several places for them to fit properly; that is to seat down all the way so that the gasket seals against the head. I would have thought that Edelbrock would have designed their parts to work together a little better. Anyway, when I bought a Mopar Performance Air leaner lid and cast aluminum valve covers about 2 years ago and did a 4 color PC job on them, I had to notch those valve covers quite a bit to get them to fit also.
So the moral of the story is this: After installing a new intake, check valve cover fitment BEFORE doing anything to them. How upset would you be if you spent hours cleaning them up and painting or powder coating them only to realize they are not going to fit without grinding on fresh paint or powder.