I don't have headers on it and there are studs in the front and rear manifold bolt holes. Aren't those the only 2 holes per head that go to water in a 318 ?

I could pull the stat and do another run, but it won't be until this Friday. I don't have a temp gauge. I was using a heat gun liberally while the engine was running and the stat housing was right at 180 degrees. Get a gauge, I know.

I have a USED aluminum Eddy performer intake. The one that is basically an aluminum version of the factory cast iron 4 bbl intake. It has Felpro gaskets with Gaskacinch type stuff on it and I didn't use the cork gaskets on the ends. I used sealer on the ends instead so that the manifold would get a good seal to the heads.

I had turned the motor and distributor to fire at about 15 BTDC before we actually cranked it. The vacuum advance was plugged and I set total to 35 with a dial back light while the engine was running at about 2500 rpm. It fired right off and total was really close.

edit: I didn't use sealant on the head bolts. After a quick look at the FSM it doesn't say anything about doing that.