Update! And a couple questions.
Ok so we finally decided to bear the Texas heat and start messing with this truck again. I pulled off the starter to disassemble it and freshen it up, which I'm glad I did! Found out the bearing in the starter was seized, so I ended up taking apart another starter I had to steal the bearing from it. Cleaned up the internals and greased up the bendix, reassemble, test it on a hot battery, then reinstalled!
Next was to make new battery cables. The old positive cable was completely bare and the old negative cable was just too short. We put a good battery in the truck, squirted some oil down the cylinders and hit the stomp starter, and the engine spun over the first time in who knows how long! We spun it off and on for a couple minutes to see if it would build oil pressure....but nada.
We took the pressure gauge line off the block (which ended up breaking on us) and spun the engine over a couple more times hoping oil would leak from the hole, still nothing. There's plenty of oil in the engine, is it possible it just has lost its prime after sitting for so long? We plan to pull the distributor and spin the pump with a drill.
Also while browsing the web and forums on the 261(since this is the first time I've ever messing with one) I've found out about the infamous dowel pin and the oiling line/filter situations. The pin on this engine is flush with the block, though it looks like someone had tried to drill it out. Meanwhile I noticed that both 1/2" oil holes are plugged and have no line running between them. I have no clue how many miles were put on the engine after its rebuild. I assume I should install a line before proceeding any farther?
