shovel motor progress...o-ring intake clamp expert opinion needed

with the help of my pops i got the all the cylinder base nuts torqued down on the shovelhead. i used plated grade 8 nuts and lockwashers to mimic the brass accent i've got going on the rest of the motor.

















i also put on the intake manifold for the s&s super e i'll be running, and i used the brass o-ring style intake clamps that i got from mike at old-stf. now i'm hoping someone can tell me from looking at the pic below if i installed the intake and clamps correctly. there is a gap between the outer ridge of intake port and the edge of the o-ring clamp on either side. it seems secure and solid, but that gap has me paranoid. who's got an expert opinion that can shed some light? also, i've been told that if the o-ring clamps are setup properly that there's no need for a carb support, but i don't trust it with all that shovelhead vibration. any experts want to weigh in on that issue as well?
this pic is the top view looking down:
















and last but not least, if the intake manifold is on, why not go ahead and mount the carb as well? with the 1" yost spacer block, the teardrop sticks out a bit further than you normally see...especially with the craze of everybody building anorexic skinny bikes these days. anybody got a 1/2" yost spacer block they'd like to trade for my 1"er?