Questions about 250 inline 6 cyl

[indymachinist]

Almost on a "bet" we will say with a couple coworkers... I am preparing to go down a strange path with my 250 straight 6.

So I have a couple questions about the stock parts with this engine.

#1 The bolted together intake and exhaust manifolds. I understand this was to get heat into the intake manifold. To what extent was this achieved? I just separated my manifolds today and found the bottom area of the intake manifold was packed almost solid with carbon deposits. The exhaust manifold has a flapper valve in it that I had not noticed before. The connection or whatever controlled the flapper is long since gone and it was just hanging there. Did some amount of exhaust actually enter the intake manifold thru this connection? Or was this just to kind of "surround" the bottom of the intake with hot exhaust?

#2 The distributor setup. Does the distributor tip drive the oil pump on these engines? I assume so since that seemed common on older engines but want to be sure. What I am doing with this engine it will no longer need a distributor.

Thanks for the thoughts!