Thanks, fellas! I'm just a hobbyist taking matters into his own hands, for better or worse.
Not much to report, even though I've spent hours over the last few days taking advantage of unusually dry (but cold!) weather here in the Pacific Northwest to work on the car in the driveway. I brought it home this offseason instead of leaving it in its trailer at the offsite storage facility (to my dog Baldor's dismay).
Spent a fair bit of time under the car taking measurements of where things need to go for the sliding block. Lots of staring, poking, and pondering. I've concluded that the exhaust system needs to be rerouted, and the fuel pump relocated before I mess with things further. I'll probably do a GTA-style side dump exhaust since the sliding block and it's reinforcing struts will block the usual exhaust route.
I also took a few more bites out of the oil system upgrade project. It's made up of a new homemade remote adapter, Setrab cooler, fresh lines, and Aeroquip fittings. Like I said, this was a pain. Glad it's done. Haven't tested it yet; for all I know, I might have introduced worse oil seepage than before. But for now, I'm going to imagine lower oil temps and a drier engine bay.