Kind of thinking along the same line, Roy.
If the motor revs fine without load, and then won't pull, hmmmm, sounds like an air leak somewhere.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1151271270/
SIDE COMMENT (from the peanut gallery): If I had a Q motor with a bad intake, I would be VERY TEMPTED to replace it with a stock Chevy (or Edelbrock Performer) intake. I know, I know, it's a specific motor and it has a specific intake, but, the questiion is, "will an Edelbrock work"? I believe it will bolt on, but will the different firing order screw up the air flow and pulse of a stock intake.
I'm wondering about re-timing a Q so it runs like every other Chevy small block. The crankshaft won't know, pistons won't know, as long as it's timed properly for a standard and reverse rotation 327F, for instance, I see no reason why you couldn't convert a Q to a stock Chevy "everything" it it was retimed accordingly (both in standard and reverse rotation).
I don't think the heads are so different that it "requires" the Q intake, but I don't know that for sure. It wouldn't take long to find out if you had the intake off, there are plenty of old SBC intakes around for test fitting purposes.
Paul