Initial Engine Troubles

• Poor throttle response ~ pretty much what you might expect from a 26 year old truck with 240k miles on it and the original Carburetor.
• A random hesitation at 2500 rpm while cruising.
• Replaced the OEM carb with a larger Weber 38/38 Outlaw - which will also be used when I finish building a new 2.6L Pro Stroker motor that is supercharged.
• Oil leaks
• Oil pan - 7 loose bolts (fixed)
• Oil Pump - 2 lower bolts missing!  (still not fixed, the new motor will resolve that!)
• but not much oil from here so it's fine.
• Half Moon front rubber Head/Cam Cover gasket (tiny leak nothing worth worrying about at this point (again will be fixed with the new motor).
• This wasn't Engine, but the rear diff had an oil leak - tightened 2 bottom bolts, problem solved.
• OEM Exhaust Manifold (Cast Iron) and welded Exhaust system.   25lbs of shit.
• I replaced the OEM Exhaust manifold with LCE Pro Long tube Header and Magnaflow/Proflow Exhaust system.
• I'm pretty sure I picked up 10-15 hp with this!  The engine really woke up!
• OEM Distributor 
• Replaced with LCE Pro Vacuum assisted New Distributor with a better advance curve.  
• OEM Coil/Ignition system
• This was just a basic coil-pack.  Not much to it.  I replaced it with a Crane Cams Fireball HI6 with LX92 Coil and a built in rev-limiter.
• Plugs 
• #1-3 seems reasonable for not likely having been changed anytime recently.  Although they were a bit fouled, probably due to the poor condition of the OEM Carb.
• #4 was a MESS! This is a bit concerning, Fouled, Gummed up, Black, Oily.
• This too was replaced, and since then I haven't rechecked it.  I've been waiting a bit to put a few hundred miles on the replacement before I recheck it.  Bottom line is that the engine as is now it running quite well.  And I'm in the process of building a completely NEW motor.  So I'm not going to dig into this block/head until it comes out of the truck AFTER I swap in the new Motor.
• Wires
• Replaced with Bosch wires.  For the new motor I will use 8.5mm wires with a high temp coating on them and these new ones will go away too.