Tim:
The ride was very good. My wife made, literally, the 11th hour decision to join me! So we took I-5 down instead of my intended route via 101/PCH.
The foot box mods worked out great. Both my feet do not hurt after 15+ hours of driving ( 8 there, 7 back ). The dead pedal made the biggest difference.
Power Brakes: great for keeping me from rolling back with little pressure on my part. No problems to report here.
Engine: one thing I figured out early on was the Edelbrock "used" heads I bought some 4 years ago, were the culprit of my
oil consumption. I'd go through 1 quart every 250-500 miles (I had about 11,150 miles before the new heads were installed.) The math would suggest I used 44 quarts on just "adding" what I lost. Maybe not that much, but easily 22 quarts!!! With the new head and cam, the car felt really strong in the mid-range to upper RPM and the best news: my dipstick showed a full pan after 1,000 miles!!!
Oil consumption resolved. The new cam also allows me to go to 6500RPM but my MSD pill stops at 6400. I got up there a few times and the car pulls like a freight train compared to the old cam. Passing on I-5 was never an issue.
We got rained/drizzled on Sunday morning so my wipers came in handy for about 75 miles from Huntington Beach until Magic Mountain. Never got wet except my left leg and her right let; appears all that water we were wiping off, goes down into the seam of the front edge of the door and made it's way down the 2" square upright of the frame.