Edelbrock Intake Issue

I am brand new to this forum and recently purchased a 68 Barracuda Notchback. It came with an LA360, which included a high rise single plane intake and double pumper Holley Carb. I swapped these out to be a little more street friendly. Now has an Edelbrock Performer intake (2176) and AVS2 650 carb (1906) and happy with the streetability so far. Biggest issue I have is the thermo housing/water neck leaking. Unfortunately, Edelbrock has provided zero help suggesting a recommended thermo housing and thermostat setup and actually told me that this is a known issue. I then contacted Jegs, Summit, etc. to get a recommendation and the consensus has been this set up based on similar past customer setups/issues. Billet Specialties Thermostat Housing (90820) and Mr Gasket Hi-Flow thermostat (4366). Issue is the thermo does not sit flush in housing so the set up does not work whatsoever. I suspect that the leak is due to the double bolt pattern on the intake. I doubled up a couple gaskets and used gasket sealer but the secondary bolt option on the intake sits right on the edge of the gasket and I suspect that is the reason for the leak. Any suggestions here would be a huge help before I pull all my hair out. I want to do this right and do not want to saturate this thing with sealer, silicone, etc.
Here's a little Mopar World secret for you ...
if the thermostat housing is Chrome.. it will not seal.
You'll have to surface all the chrome off the mating surface, 'scratch finish' and try again. Two times in my life I bought a chrome thermostat housing once when I first started out doing this...it leaked , I removed it. The other time about 15 years later when I forgot about the first time, it leaked and so I put an old rusted 1968 housing on after a wire wheeling...never leaked a drop.lol
Skip the fancy thermo housings and just clean up a stock one and paint it aluminum.