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Put you thumb over the empty #1 spark plug hole. Bump the starter over until you feel the upstroke of the piston force your thumb out. Now your on TDC of the compression stroke on #1 cylinder. Wire from there.

Did you adjust the valves after assembly.

Thanks Martin - Not sure how many times I've read that in forums, still got by me when actually doing it.

Kevinski - I have, twice, but will do a third time

You can also check by the timing mark on its mark,rotor on distributer pointing to fire on number one cylinder and the number one valves both closed ,no rockers pushing down on the valves.

Problem with a new build is you might not get the distributor in right to mark location. Tonight I rolled it to TDC and set the distributor back in it. Also adjusted all the valves again. I was right with the position of the distributor after all. I could feel when it was hitting the top of the pump, versus when it went down the extra 1/4" or so. Buttoned it all up again and hit the starter. I got a few pops, but the battery seemed to be low. I put a 12v jump on it and gave the distributor a slight twist and it took off right away. Only ran as long as it took me to walk around it and turn it off. I have to get the exhaust rebent to fit the new manifold, so it's super loud. Very gratifying to hear it run. This weekend I will open the doors and do a quick timing adjustment. I still have to get my rad back from the shop, so won't be running it for very long.

Since rad is next, I'm working to patch the cross member where it was worn right through. Got some welding and drilling to do...

Good job thanks for the update the suspense was killing me .you will be itching for the snow to be gone to go for a ride in the spring.

Seeing that it a fresh build if your not planning on it already , it might need a proper break in period along with some break in additive .

John

Machine shop said run 20 minutes at 2000 rpm. That was about it. Any additional advice is appreciated!

Do not start it and shut it down repeatedly. Wait until it’s ready, radiator full. Fresh supply of gas. Then do your 20 minutes @ 2000. Starting and stopping is not good for the cam.

As Justhorsenround said, it is critical to avoid start ups and low rpm operation. I would treat the 2000 rpm number as a minimum as you want to keep the cam lobes lubricated for the break-in period. A break-in oil additive is a good idea as engine oils these days tend to be formulated for modern engines that do not have the same cam break-in concerns.

Ok, I need to figure out the oil situation first then. I have a Pontiac manual, which states that it need 4 qts and 1 more for the filter. I put 5L in, which is like 5.2qts. The engine came with a dipstick and tube, which wasn't installed, but I was told is the original. I replaced the tube with one almost of identical length, using Deve's instructions. 5L takes me to the 'Low Oil' mark on the stick. From bottom of washer to tip, it's 15-3/4" long, 14" to the 'Full' mark. The tube is about 8.1" long and sits 7-3/8" from block to tip. The way it sits, it feels like it needs one more quart, but I'm concerned about over filling it. This engine is out of a Pontiac, and I have the letter from GM stating that. Perhaps someone put a truck pan on it at one time?

I'm going to take some measurements of the oil pan and compare to another that I have from a truck (they look the same). If it comes out the same, does that mean that they both have the same capacity? From what I've read, trucks with 235/261 typically use 6qt with a filter...

I have this pan out of a truck and the deepest part of the pan (approx 9"x9"x7") is actually a bit smaller than the one on the new engine. Not sure if that speaks to amount of oil?

Got some welding done while I ponder the oil situation...

Is the oil pan the one that was on the engine when you got it .one of the posts I read says the oil pan has to match the oil pickup.

Here is some imfo on dipstick from this site under 261 oil dipstick

This is the pan that was on the engine when I got it and I have to assume it's original.

I think this one best describes the dipstick, as I measure about 14" to full line:

58-59
ALL (6 cyl.) exc. Ser. (3C-3D-3F)
13 13/16" under washer to full line
14 13/32" under washer to add line

Ok, moved the oil discussion to here:

Going to move on and changed out the front bearing in the transmission.

Just to confirm, I have decent looking synchro's for first gear, but they aren't brass. I was told to just leave these in place since 1st is rarely used:

Also, I just noticed the chatter on these gears, is it a big deal?

That sure looks like brass to me.

If you're talking about the sawtooth pattern between the gear clutch teeth and the synchronizer, I believe that's normal. Everything else looks good to me.

Sorry, to clarify, these are the original brass synchro's and I have a spare trans that has a donor set in great shape, but those are not brass. I was told I should keep the original brass regardless.

For the 2nd synchro, I was referring to what I circled here, is this supposed to look like that?

Finally, I tore into the trans tonight and the replacement bearings for the front have the correct dimensions, but less bearings in them. Is this a problem?

Yes, that's what I thought you were referring to (what you circled). I think it' a remnant of the machining of the gear, and nothing to worry about.

I was concerned because it doesn't have a consistant pattern like a machine would leave. I'm going to check my spare...

Spare trans does not have the chatter marks:

Are you able to get the chip collected at the bottom of the transmission out to see if there are any chips trapped in it .photo from Denny Graham site.

Still cleaning, but found this in the bottom:

Also missing a key?

Haven't found it yet, feels like this is a pretty crucial part...

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1438568.html#Post1438568

Think I've got a plan now. Basically, front half of the gear/shaft assembly from newer donor trans and original to the rear. Got to clean it all up, paint and reassemble. I will have some questions on the gaskets shortly...

Kid got me sidetracked with his project:

In the meantime, starting to plan for fender reassembly. I know not everyone has the center mount under the rad, but mine is about 1-5/16" unbolted:

This is a new piece, it used to have about 5/8" of steel wedged in there. I'm assuming everything is going to align completely different now, than it did previously. I was thinking about starting with the hood alignment that"s in the tech articles first, then piecing it all together loosely until by some magic I can close and latch it. Make sense?

Follow-up to my last post, here is the hood alignment without fenders:

Start here before fenders?

Just reading the hood alignment process, perhaps the fenders should be 'loosely' in place to do this?

In a bit of a situation with the transmission, so decided to take my mind off of it with another job. Since this is behind the fender, decided to clean it up and paint with POR product

The only hole that I've found in this body was here, near where the big drain hole is:

Nice that it will be low and out of sight. Here's with paint:

That's in really good shape. Here's what I was dealing with.

Yup, that's some air conditioning!

Bought an inner fender edge rubber kit and it came with staples. I know the original rubber was stapled on as well. Is there actually a stapler that will pierce an inner fender metal? I can see myself manually putting a staple through each existing hole...

My old office has a big honkin' stapler that was used to staple 50+ pages at a time. I think that would pierce the sheet metal. But I'll likely either do like you're thinking about using the existing holes, or use some glue instead.

Staples are bigger than typical gun, so hand stitched them…

Looks good.
IIRC, when I took the old staples out they were round wire. One could just use baling wire.

Looks good did the inner fenders come with this rubber when new .My truck had no rubber but it could have been long gone before I got it.

Yes, most of it was still there. Existing staple holes likely a dead giveaway.

Starting to fit up the fenders now:

Seems to be some disagreement over the fender to cab beading. I have it ready to go on, but some have said no. It's not a new paint job and I had to scrape of the original, so I know it was there. Keep it?

Both fenders on and supports underneath. Took some work to get it together so far:

For the firewall to fender rods, instructions say left side is 27-1/4" from the center of the bolt head to the edge or brackets.

Is 'left' the passenger side?
Is the center of the bolt the first bolt or the second bolt?