She's alive! Running great too. Thank you guys again for answering all my questions... One more though. My timing marks are about a 1/3 of an inch off, how close do I need to get it and is that done with the dashpots on the side somehow?

I ran it for the hour and a half and it sounded as good as it ever has. However, I turned it off and decided to make sure it would turn on again and it won't. Gave it about three or four tries and it's no good. It sounds kind of grindy almost. But that could be noise from the trans as the shifter bar is only in place and the rubber is all out. I'm afraid to try more, what should I do?

drain your oil and look at it

while the oil is draining, look at your spark plugs

the dashpots only adjust the trailing timing. you adjust the lead by rotating the distributor itself.

sorry to hear this. turn the engine by hand and see if you feel anything (notchy or tight spots) throughout the rotation. also, see if you're getting the 6 pulses you should be getting.

in addition to draining the oil, remove the filter, drain it into a container, then cut it open and look at the filtering medium. you're looking for signs of metal shavings.

Its a bad starter! One of the brushes inside is entirely flat. I've never been so happy to spend $60. We pulled the plugs and got one last hura from the starter the engine turns and compresses on all faces. Also the oil looks and smells clean.

good to hear it was something simple. most of the time that sounds means yanking the motor again

I don't think I could deal with that again. Couldn't get the drive shaft out last time, it was stuck some how. You ever tried to align a transmission to a drive shaft underneath the car? Press with one hand turn with the other.

Dowel pin leak?
 

all drifshafts get stuck in the rear end, called a rubber mallet or a pry bar cause they usually rust in

Tried a ruber mallet... Vigorously. She wouldn't budge... Never thought prybar for some reason.

Installed the new starter and she fired right up. I quadruple checked the compression and all the faces are definitely good. I'm a little worked at how much it smokes though. White when idling, blue oil smoke even driving. I drove is down the road and back and checked the oil was still good. Is it normal for them to smoke for a while?

generally speaking, smoking is normal. i think the chambers clear themselves pretty quickly of all the lube used in assembly, but it can sit in the exhaust for a while.

how much smoke are we talking about? a misting here and there or a thick, continuous cloud?

Well, this is embarrassing, its gone now. I guess I'm just really scared of things breaking.

Dowel pin leak?
 

its normal for any rebuilt engine to smoke for awhile, gotta figure all those new seaks are seating in, and its possible for stuff to leak past until they are seated in and the assembly lube burns off

What, you sold it?

Haha, no, the smoke is gone. Not selling it, not after all that work.

I see! Smoke gone, car here. Glad to hear it. I'm considering getting a 12A from an engineering student just to rebuild it for a learning experience. I may involve the engineering students at my high school where I teach Physics and Chemistry.

Yeah, I'm a mechanical engineering major. One of the reasons I was excited to do the rebuild was to open it up and look at the inside. I enjoyed most of it. I had a few problems with stuck gaskets and putting it back in the car but over all, it beats work any day.