if you set the distr. at #1 at TDC ...ya should not have crank that ol gal very much for her to breath fire , double check your fuel delivery an GO FOR IT.
It all part a the fun ! ...if you lubed the top end like ya said you wont have any probs ...heck i had a HD ..OLD HD engine run for over a minute after a fresh rebuild that wasnt gettin oil due to a chunk a crap in the return ....it ran figured out prob an it stil runs just fine
