98 200FF build, lots of pics. lots of questions, hopefully not lots of mistakes!

[LakeFever]

Finally dug this motor out of storage and have started to assemble. I spoke at some point with just about everyone over the past couple years. Had an awesome 2hr talk with Jay Smith what a helpful and knowledgeable man he is. Ordered some TDR reeds and managed to get them installed. When i inspected the stock reeds some of the gaps were huge. No wonder the thing sounded like a big block chevy with a lumpy cam at idle. Also the reed block faces were far from flat. I read a few threads on four petal reeds and some guys remove the rubber and whatnot but i figured id try and lap them and see how that went. It takes quite a lot of time because rubber is squirmy so i couldnt apply much pressure. They did eventually come out perfectly flat though and the reed fitmemt is very tight there is no light passing through the reed/block seal now. Heres some pics of the process. Took about six hours all said and done. The first pic if you look at the stainless reeds you can see they were floating way off the block. This wasn’t even the worst one it was the last one and i just grabbed a pic for reference. The second pic is part way through blocking. Third is a finished flat block and then some with new reeds installed. I also cleaned up the intake flashing with sand rolls.