Quite an undertaking, to say the least. I don't think I need to go this far with my car, and it's SAI issues. We looked at all that stuff during the rebuild, was fine.
You might want to try some header wrap for insulation purposes. I know it's a tight fit, I looked mine over pretty well in the car trying to eliminate issues.
I'm going in for the smog test today, fingers crossed....
Congrats on passing yours.
