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Getting close now. Saturday, got the oil pan on, and then the intake. I painted it Sunday and in retrospect, I should've done that first (it took four hours to mask it all!). Next, harmonic balancer, timing pointer, thrust bearing and intake bits. Clutch is next on the shopping list and then it's off to drop it in. Will likely happen within the next few weeks. Dropped the carb and air cleaner on it, just to see how it looks.
Not sure about the automatic cover, but if you have the manual trans, Muncie or T10, you're going to have to modify the flywheel inspection cover to fit on the '87-'91 Chevy Small Blocks with the one piece rear main seal. The one piece rear crank, has a lot larger oil pan diameter on the rear of the block and the regular inspection cover won't fit at all. So you're going to have to cut it to make it fit. Maybe you could find one, but I doubt it, as the four speed bellhousing was long gone by '87. I eyeballed this and then took an air saw to it, along the dashed lines. On the circular part, keep the cut to the outside of the raised portion. Fit perfectly after that. Measurements are approximate and your results may vary, so check and double check before you cut.
Updating the thread to share the final result of my first engine build. So far, so good. It idles well, starts instantly, stays cool and runs smoothly. There was some oil leakage and I was afraid that I had not installed the one piece rear seal correctly, but it turned out to be the oil pan drain plug on the brand new Milodon oil pan! I nailed the custom pushrod length and readjusted the valve train at 300 miles, just to make sure. As far as how it goes fast, it pulls hard, from idle all the way to redline. There is no bog, no flat spots, no hesitation, it just hauls! The 0.525 lift Howard Cam has a nice choppy idle, but will rev willingly too. So far, so good!
