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The Autolite carbs can be made to work pretty well. A decent Holley - 735 or 770 - simply will work better from a performance perspective with less effort. Don't get the cheapest Holley - the ones with non-adjustable floats are to be avoided.

Your heads can be fixed. As noted earlier, there is a "tipping point" somewhere around a thousand dollars where it just makes more sense to go to the Edelbrocks for a touch under $1500. There is a certain charm to having original iron, but the Eds have more potential down the road and they are completely new...

For a performance intake that looks like an original part you should consider the Blue Thunder. Its a dual plane with performance on a par with the Edelbrock Performer RPM - but it looks just like a Ford part with no visible logos. Costs more - but likely a better bet than a PI given the likelihood of finding a nice one these days.

Degreeing the cam is a process of verification - making certain that the cam opening and closing events are where they belong in reference to the crankshaft. You use a degree wheel - a dinner plate sized item with markings in degrees - and a dial indicator to see when the valve actually moves open and closed. Most often things are plenty good enough for a street vehicle right out of the box, altough errors can be found. In a race car this stuff becomes critical.

Last time I sold a set the cast iron headers were running around $750 +/- 100... Lots nicer than headers on something like a Galaxie. The other members will have to help you on what year fits what...

Barry Rabotnick
Survivalmotorsports.com