It has been some time since I updated this journal. Primarily working on body panels trying to get ready for paint but have now decided that at least if I am going to paint it that will not happen until next year due to temperatures dropping.
Given the body work activity I decided that I could not wait any longer to hear the engine run. It is a 383 SBC that was built a couple years ago and just sitting in the chassis waiting. I had previously confirmed that my wiring was providing power to the starter, distributor, etc. and the electric fuel pump pressure seemed correct without the need for a regulator. I found that I have mis wired the starter solenoid but once that was resolved it worked.
Prior to trying to start I installed an old distributor without a cam gear to prime the oil system. Priming went well and showed about 50-60 psi oil pressure when running the oil pump with an electric drill, a fair amount of oil delivered to the rocker arms on both cylinder heads. I needed to play with the timing to get it running and not really sure where it sits now as I was more interested in running at speed for the cam break-in. Once running it seemed okay with oil pressure in the 50-60 psi range, battery voltage at 14 volts, coolant temperature rose to 220 before I shut it down. I ran it for about 20 minutes at 2500 rpm and will probably run it again before I try to let it idle and set timing, idle speed, etc. I am trying to not run it at speeds lower than 2000 rpm until I have sufficient time that I believe the cam will be okay.
I did determine that my clutch is not releasing so I was not able to engage reverse on the transmission. I need to sort that out so that I can determine more information about the drive train as it is a mix of used parts (NV3500 transmission, 14 bolt rear axle w/ 4.10 ratio) and a new customer drive shaft. I am hoping that the problem is air in hydraulic clutch system but it may be the slave cylinder (the master is new so presumably not the problem). It will be a little strange to drive it around the yard with no body panels or doors, just the cab with no glass in place.
Once I get the basics like timing and idle speed set and any other drive train issues resolved I will run engine with the fuel pump disabled to run the carburetor dry for it's winter nap.
