Once again I want to thank all that are posting to this thread. I started drag racing in the 60's and 70's. Had a 63 Chevrolet belair with a 283 engine. Bought several books on rebuilding car engines. Every thing I knew back then was self taught. I tore the engine down in the fall each year and went through it and replaced any thing I felt was out of spec. I bought a Craftsman torque wrench back then. I did not have a lot of extra money back then, nor do I now. I used that wrench to torque the rods, main bearings and head bolts. Never had a failure using that wrench. Never blew an engine. So I thought nothing of using that same wrench on this engine. I did not know it could be so far off converting inch pounds to foot pounds. They are torqued and I am going with that. Did buy a Harbor Freight torque wrench that is in inch pounds. Did not read the shop manual close enough or I just plain forgot that I would need over 200 inch pounds reading. Another Senior Moment. I have them a lot.
Did a preliminary adjustment of the valves today. Caught something that I should have caught years ago. I have an old set of feeler gauges. I think it goes from .001 to .040. I was setting the intake valves to .009. My .010 blade is messed up so I tried a .011 blade to see if it would slide in between the valve and the tappet. Lo and behold it slid in easier than the .009 blade. Found a couple more blades that evidently were mis marked. I had used this gauge for years setting points on my motorcycles. Can't believe I didn't catch that before now. Got the oil pan on and torqued down today. Also got the dip stick and oil fill part installed. Going to have to put engine on a Harbor Freight 4 wheel dolly that I rigged so that the engine will sit securely. Getting too heavy for me to be lifting. Going to buy a multimeter that beeps so I can set the points while on work bench. Will recheck valves and points once the fly wheel is on so I can be sure of the timing marks. Have a great day.
Bob