As to the nuts and washers thing, I will insert my three cents worth here. I am not in the concours originality group, so "do it right" means do it better than original when it may be beneficial. If it is also a safety enhancement, then it should not be discounted in concours judging. Beginning with the Service Parts List illustration of parts where the heat shield and carburetors will attach, see items 4, 5, 6 and 7.

And the SPL illustration of parts for the heat shield, spacers and gaskets, see items 14, 15 and 16.

Without changing any other parts, I install the spring attaching bracket and three plain washers, with the spring bracket serving as the omitted fourth plain washer (not needed). Then I do recommend four lockwashers and four plain hex nuts. Reason is, with long experience I have seen the nuts work loose (without lockwashers) to leave a vacuum leak, so I believe in lockwashers for this application. Plain nuts allow starting and spinning of the nuts with finger tips for easiest assembly without too much wrenching. Do clean the threads every time before reassembly to keep the nuts free spinning. Internal tooth lockwashers allow fewer turns of the wrench for tightening and loosening the nuts, as well as doing less chewing on the mating surfaces. Flat washers are good for protecting the soft pot metal of the throttle body to prevent lockwashers from chewing on it over time, also making wrenching easier/quicker.

Many years ago I added a second thermal spacer between manifold and heat shield in attempt to reduce carburetor over-heating (the boiling fuel alcohol issue beginning early 90's). I still deem this to be a good idea if you do not always run alcohol free fuel. Then for each stack you have:
Intake manifold, then a gasket, spacer, gasket, heat shield, gasket, spacer, gasket, throttle body, flat washer, lockwasher, and flat nut (total 8 gaskets for dual carbs).

Having done this, the original studs were too short to accept all this hardware, so for a while I was omitting the lockwashers to be able to install the nuts. After the carbs came loose a few times, I changed to longer studs to enable use of lockwashers.

on Jul 14, 2026, Eric Russell in Mebane, NC, USA wrote:
"I use a flat washer & Nylock nut. A flat washer won't dig in to the soft aluminum manifold. I also have two throttle return springs (Tech requirement for vintage racing). If original appearance is important to you, add a drop of blue Loctite to the plain nut".

The second spring bracket is easy. Start with a standard spring bracket, flip it over,and re-form the two bends as mirror image in the opposite sdirection. Or hook the spring onto bottom edge of the heat shield.