Have a edelbrock performer on it now, ya it's going to be tight, I'm milling off the choke on my holley carb and going to modify my drop base and hopefully clear the hood, later down the road I may get an l88 or a glasstek cowl hood.
Got everything cleaned up and dropped her in
any c3 with a factory big block came with the big block hood, you may as well plan on a hood change right from the start. i once looked at a big block swap for my 76. by the time i priced out all the parts and pieces to do it, the cost was just too much, so i decided to go with a 406 small block instead. good luck with your project and keep us up to speed on the progress.
I'm surprised it wouldn't fit under your stock hood Doug; the '74 came with a big block option.
pretty hard to find an oem manifold greg. the plenum is dropped down into the lifter valley on them and the carb pad is almost flush with the runners. the easiest but pricier route is a decent manifold and a higher hood.
Nice job BB! I love the big blocks as well and you got a good one. Do the valve covers say 502? Would love one of those some day!