Great thread! Just found this and enjoyed the read with a early cup of coffee. Congratulations all around for sure.
My bet is that with the progress you've just made, it'll be running very soon. Don't take this as advise, but as soon as I had easy 360 deg rotation I'd prime the carb and (with a water hose/fire extinguisher handy) try and fire that sucker up. It's always gratifying to hear one run, even if it's only till the gas that's been pored down the carb is used up.
I too have a stuck engine project (early 70's CJ5 with a 258 6 cylinder) and have plans for a different tacit on freeing it up. My two younger brothers went together and bought a $200 jeep for parts, one wanted the pto winch, the other the windshield and frame and roll bar. That was about 5 years ago.
The engine was stuck when they bought the jeep and since then it's been sitting in the gravel pit next to a shooting bench, totally neglected.
My plan is to drag it to the top of a steep hill in the pit, put it in high gear, pull the plugs and fill the cylinders with coke (a-cola). The theory being acid in the coke will slowly dissolve the rust that's locking things up and one day I'll find the Jeep at the bottom of the hill with coke sprayed all over the underside of the hood.
Also thinking about using a molasses/water solution rather than coke. Just recently discovered the OLD rust removal process of feed supplement molasses/water at about a 1-7 ratio. It works GREAT, truly amazing how well it works.
I'll be sure and share results, just know this has been on my doitnow list for a couple years.
