I believe so. I am running a couple of them, and as has been said before, if you mount them backwards on the manifold, the throttle and fuel lines literally fall into place. However, the choke ends up on the wrong side and operates backwards. After a lot of looking around and thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that running the Mercury automatic choke is the best solution. Mine work flawlessly. For the automatic choke to operate properly, you need the heat risers. I see you're in Michigan, so blocking them will also effect driveability in the spring and fall.
You should also know that Mercury used two types of automatic chokes in the late flahead era. First, there are "regular" chokes where the choke mechanism is on the carburetor and is connected to the heat riser by a hollow tube. The second type has the choke mechanism mounted on the manifold and connected to the actual choke plate itself by a rod. These are known as "divorced" chokes. It all depends on the year Mercury manifold you pick up. I have done 2G setups with both types of chokes, and all that is needed in either case is a slight bending and shortening of the tube or actuating rod. Lucky for us that GM made 2G carburetors with both types of chokes as well; a "2GC" has the "regular" choke mechanism mounted on it, while a "2GV" is used with a "divorced choke mechanism. (Manual choke Rochesters are simply "2G".) You will be well served if you obtain the carb and manifold each with the proper choke type.
I have been a manual choke guy all my life, but the Mercury choke mechanism matched so well with the 2G that it was just too good to ignore.