I had expected a delivery of parts which included the oil filter cartridge to arrive on the Friday before the anticipated starting of the motor. It did not arrive until Monday afternoon (with no Tootsie Rolls....). The ignition circuit wiring is all done. The gas tank filler tube is installed. The oil cartridge is in. The radiator is in. Today I buy all the fluids for tranny, motor, steering box, brakes and rear end. As long as I'm getting greasy, I might as well bleed the brakes. All that is left is doing what I can to rejuvenate the cork gaskets at the carb float bowl and the fuel pump glass dome. I'm going to install a temporary inline fuel filter to catch any moths or dust that may have found a way into the gas tank during the past ten years. I still want to rig up a piece of metal rod to spin the oil pump. General question: can I expect to see evidence of circulating oil if I have the valve cover off? I used to adjust the valves while the engine was running and I do not recall seeing an appreciable flow of oil at any point... maybe just a bit of oil oozing out at the rockers. How can I tell if the oil has circulated onto all bearing surfaces? Anyway, this weekend I'll give it shot. My son and his girlfriend will be here for the holiday weekend. They are both pretty good at cell-phone videos, so there will be documentation. Time wise, I do not think that I'll have any opportunity to "cheat" on the start, so the video will capture the real thing. I'm actually kind of anxious about this. Oh yea, I will also have a fire extinguisher and some heavy blankets on hand. And, a bottle of Jameson's, which I will partake of either way it turns out.

 

You should see oil from each rocker when the oil pressure builds. Ideally, you'll see it at the weep hole on the side of the rocker arm and where the push rod contacts the rocker.
If you are not seeing much oil while adjusting the valves, check the oil feed line where it fits into the block. There is a flat seal that hardens with age and prevents full flow of oil to the rockers. By time the oil gets to the rockers, it should be at all other bearings. I think we're talking about the 215, are we not?

 

Thanks for the advice. It is a 215. I know the seal that you speak of. I'd wager that it's as old as the truck. I'll start looking for a replacement.

 

Update: I tried to crank it over with the starter motor and I got this horrible loud groan/grind sound. I thought the starter was toasted, so I took it in to an auto electric shop to get it fixed. It did have its own problems, and they were taken care of. But they had nothing to do with the noise or the labored cranking. It turned out that the new ring gear that I installed has a slightly larger diameter than the old one. The ring gear teeth and the bendix pinion teeth were meshing too tightly. I stuck a washer between the bell housing and the middle starter mount to slightly angle the pinion gear away from the ring gear. It worked. the motor turns nicely and at a pretty good clip. I am unsure just what the best permanent solution to this problem is. I fashioned a driver to fit over the oil pump shaft, and I got oil to start oozing out between the rockers, so I feel like it's oiled enough to try and start. All that's left is to put some gas in the tank and water in the radiator and see what happens next.

 

Okay. I'm going to try starting it today.
Since the original post I have dealt with the poorly machined Ring Gear and a leaking the water pump.Today the fuel pump got the gas up to the float bowl with no leaks. THe battery is charged. The last thing to do is polarize the generator. My voltage regulator does not have any identifiers at the terminals, but I wired it assuming they are per the attached photo. I understand that to polarize the generator, I disconnect the field wire from the voltage regulator and momentarily touch it to the battery terminal. I should see a small blue spark. I got this info off this forum. Is my understanding on how to do this correct?