thermostat replacement
The only way I could get the thermostat to stop leaking (after trying several housings and gaskets) was to go with an o-ring style billet housing.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bsp-90820/overview/make/dodge It has never leaked one drop.
You might just want to go with a Lokar throttle cable and Lokar kickdown cable. Much easier than monkeying around with old mis-matched linkages.