Running rich, lifter tick, flush/oil additives?

i was assuming the camera added distortion. I guess I have been looking at too many real estate pics lately.
looking more closely it seems that it has an arch, but you can see towards the front that the port going to the heads start to "reach up" as you get further forward. optical illusion? sort of. using the gasket and or a straight edge across the top line of the ports themselves at the head area is the next step. cast iron usually does not warp that much without having a crack or two.

Thanks, guys.  I really appreciate the tips.  Now if it would stop dumping rain for more than 10 minutes... Funny how it only seems to rain during the day!

PS I found a precision machinist who is going to show me how to properly repair the chewed up threads on my EGR tube nuts.

So, assuming alignment checks out,

 to reinstall, I should:

use only graphite grease between intake and exhaust instead of gasket?  (Kinda confused on this as my backup FelPro gasket set has a square gasket, but honestly for only a couple months of life so far the combo FelPro that was on the intake/exhaust was in really bad condition already....so I guess that is heat related, and high heat graphite grease+metal to metal is better than the dual material gasket?)


  Then, bolt manifolds back together only hand tight,

  Then dab corners of gasket with (I have Permatex aviation form a gasket on hand) to hold in place, on the manifold itself (gasket maker says do not use any sealant)   (Make sure head is clean)
start adding bolts and tighten them.. inside bolts to outside bolts?  Or...

Then finish tighten intake to exhaust and final torque of all bolts

Then EGR tube

Then hope and pray that I took enough pics and did enough labeling that I can get everything else back together

Any tips on how to not destroy the gasket while getting that heavy thing in there/lined up?

got it all put back together, with help on the actual manifold, pretty heavy when they are bolted together!
 Now I am realizing how bad my motor mount is...

So, have you fired it up?  Is the leak gone?

As for the motor mounts, those aren't that hard.  You can pull the bolt on one side by jacking up slightly with a jack and board under the pan, then jack up more to get clearance.