[garyd1961]

Whoever you talked to doesn't know squat about a L31 swap.
You do need a new flexplate, I went with the SFI just as an upgrade but you may want to go with a factory style flexplate. I had to drill the bolt holes in my converter to a larger size, not a real problem though.
Pick your carburator before you buy an intake. They come in square bore for holley type carbs and spread bore for Quadrajet type carbs. I recommend a new carb no matter what. No need to put a junk carb on a new motor.
You can mount your fuel pump on the frame anywhere between the tank and motor. I would keep it lower than the tank though.
You do need a melonized gear(not melonite coated). The distributor shaft for a stock HEI is smaller than MSD pro billet. The pro billet has an .50 inch shaft not sure the size of the factory shaft but it's the smaller one.
As for the warranty I don't know if it true but I read that you only have a 12 month warranty if you install it yourself but you are going to find a lot of small print restrictions with all warranties. It would cost you as much as a new motor to get a dealer to install it anyway so you might as well do it yourself.
I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but you will also need a new dipstick and tube. I just found one to fit the block, cut it to the length I wanted, dumped five quarts of oil in the motor started it up, shut it down and marked my dipstick to the level.