Update time again. I had a big setback a couple months ago that has just been resolved. Here's what's been going on...
After the engine went in I installed the torsion bars, hooked up and blead the brakes. I used DOT5 fluid so I wouldn't have to worry about the paint being destroyed from DOT3. Dad came over and helped me install the exhaust system which wasn't fun. I put an initial setting on the torsion bars and let the car down on it's front wheels.
The original radiator was recored, hoses were installed and fluids were added. I went to a craft store and bought some paint pens so I could add the colored stripes back on the vacuum hoses. I nailed down the ends of the hoses to my work bench so they wouldn't move around. Using my finger as a guide, I ran the pens down the length of the hoses. They turned out very nice. At this point the engine was ready to start.
I borrowed a battery from another vehicle and made sure everything worked before trying to start the engine. With the exception of a couple bad bulbs, everything worked and there weren't any shorts. I added gas to the tank...put a little in the carb, and the engine fired right off. It only ran for a second before it ran out of gas. After that we had a hard time getting the fuel pump to prime. I had to take the fuel line loose at the carb and fill it with gas. Only then did I get the fuel pump primed.
Once the engine started up and stayed running I new there was a problem. It was missing very bad and the entire car was shaking. I let off the gas and it back fired through the carb and died. It did this a few times with the same result. I don't have a compression tester so I couldn't look into it further until I could get ahold of one. A friend came over the next weekend with his tester and we took some reading. Cylinders 3 and 7 had zero compression. I took the rocker arms off the left bank and we pumped air into the cylinders to see what was leaking. We heard air out the tail pipes so we knew it was leaking past the exhaust valves. Over the next few days I worked on taking things back apart so the engine could come out. Once the engine was out of the car I took it to a machine shop to have it looked at further.