Update / wrap up
Sorry guys. I’ve been meaning to update this thread for awhile but have been hammered at work lately. I do have some final observations though, so here goes:
After buttoning up the engine and double checking that everything was in place and torqued correctly, I was ready to fire up the engine. I had filled the radiator with plain water since I planned to flush the system after driving a couple days. I also filled with Castrol initially and will switch to synthetic after a couple hundred miles.
First I wanted to make sure that everything was lubricated as much as possible. Before I placed the head back on the block I had cleaned debris from the cylinders by cycling the pistons several times and wiping the walls. I then added some Marvel Mystery Oil to the rings. I also primed the oil pump before replacing the upper oil pan. I added a quart of oil to the camshafts when they were placed.
The last step was to turn the engine over several times to get oil pumped to the head and crank. I did this by disconnecting the coil wire and cranking the starter a few revolutions. Once this was done, I reconnected the coil wire and turned the ignition key.
I was a little surprised when the engine fired up on the first revolution. I was also expecting quite a bit of smoke on start-up but it too was less than anticipated.
The smoke cleared in a couple minutes. The engine idled slightly higher than normal and was a little erratic, but I had not yet set the timing so I wasn’t too concerned. Unfortunately, when I grabbed the timing light to set things straight I discovered a broken magnetic pick up on the light. It was dead. The timing would have to wait.
I drove it for a day until I could buy another timing light and reset the timing. It idled high and jumped around by 50 rpm. I stopped at Sears on the way home from work, bought another light and timed the engine in the parking lot. Turns out I was at least 20* advanced. Once I dialed it in to specs the idle returned to normal.
I drove it for a week with no problems. No leaks anywhere. It was so nice to see a clean oil pan without a single drip forming. The following weekend I flushed the cooling system. Twice. Then added factory red coolant. I was done. The last step is to change the oil to synthetic after putting a few more miles on her.