S*** damn it!!

Fresh 360 roller motor to go into my '66 wagon- it's a cruiser, so the wife wants to keep power steering (oh, boy...). So after trying every conceivable manifold (didn't want headers in this one) on the driver's side- magnum, 340 hipo, 360 A, etc. to no avail, I decide that the 273 logs are the only ones that will work. But those ports! Out comes the die grinder and the burrs, and I hog it out as much as I dare. Bolt it on, looks good... start tightening up the bolts and hear a "tink". Pull it back off, and the (now much thinner because of grinding) manifold is cracked! Huh? Why? Closer inspection reveals that the 308 heads don't clear the manifold's curved "down leg" because of the extended mating surface below the #7 port. Well, a little judicious grinding at the bottom edge of the pad should take care of that. Grind, test fit, grind, test fit... wait, what's that? A hole?? Put smoke to it, and sure enough, smoke comes out the t-stat. **@#!! Water jacket!
So, in a matter of an hour, I trashed an exhaust manifold that I spent hours and hours porting, a freshly rebuilt 308 head, my ego and my wallet.