Yup went with cork gasket and a touch of ultra blk. Do you use a gasket between the exhaust manifold and exhaust or just use a bead of the red gasket maker? I've got a gasket from a felpro engine kit I bought. All other gaskets work fine except those crappy ones. I'm thinking about using the high temp red silicone. I know it holds up good in hvac heaters and airplane engines. For the engine paint I used duplicolor enamel with ceramic. Supposed to withstand heat up to 500°. In the pontiac blue of course. And yes sir, I would absolutely would like it if you walked me thru a tune up. At your convenience of course. Ty