Just wanted to give a quick update on this. I ended up swapping the intake. I put my old 95' intake and upper plenum on the 97' engine, it fired right up. Sorry its been so long.
I do have one other question though...
The temp. sensor at the "gooseneck" / thermostat pluged right in but the secondary sensor that used to connect at the rear head does not exist on the 97 head. Does anyone know where that should hook-up. My temp. gage does not currently work, nor do the fans. Not a big deal as long as I'm not in traffic LOL.
Jeremy