We got the engine in, and and my son worked his butt off to help get everything buttoned up.
The engine started pretty much right away but we have a few kinks to work out.
It looks like we busted the oil pressure sending unit when we dropped the car onto the engine. We were freaking , when there was no oil pressure, but I found the unit, and when I pressed the housing up, by hand, we had a good oil pressure reading
It looks like a tough fix, to reach back there and replace it with the engine n the car... Is this doable? Any tips?

The block heater is leaking, just above the starter, so we have ro re & re the starter and have a look. Any info or tips on starter removal, is much appreciated.

The other electrical component we busted was (I think it's called) the low brake pressure warning switch (on the front of the brake HCU) when a wrench slipped and hit the electrical plug, cracking the unit

All in all we're happy, it's running and we actually do have oil pressure.
Thanks to all the members who answered our questions and offered tips, those were super helpful

 

sending unit is easy to replace. just get a smaller pair of channel lock pliers or an adjustible wrench might work. undo the old one. it's pretty easy. probably a 10 minute fix. i did this same thing twice while putting the motor in. lol

 

An oil pressure sensor socket will also work.

 

Another vote for using the oil pressure sending unit socket; it's not expensive and works great with the limited access.

 

Thanks, I'm going to check out the auto parts store tonight, and see if they have one

 

The saga continues...
Took out the block heater and banged a frost plug in.

Then took the sending unit socket, and tried to get it on the fitting
&%#@%$@^# the fitting was turned in such a way so that the socket could not even get on the broken sending unit.
We spent 3+ hrs trying to get wrenches on the fittings to turn them with no luck. Finally we considered taking off the intake manifold, or even dropping the engine again
I was ready to give up, for the night, washed up, walked back to the garage, and played for a minute or two. Fluke, I hooked onto the vertical fitting and managed to rotate the sending unit away from the firewall and towards the engine.
One more turn, and we had it. Just pivoted the horizontal fitting, and we're there.
One little thing prevented us from removing it, that being that my son has a habit of taking my tools and not exactly putting them back where they belong
3/8 universal and some adaptors were missing from dad's tool box...
So we'll give it another go tomorrow night. Maybe he'll remember to put tools back in the tool box where they belong too

 

wow, i had no such problems with my broken sending unit and a small set of vise grips.

 

Yeah I have removed the oil pressure sending unit from several different cars with my socket and never had a problem.
Good to hear its in and running.....thats 80 percent of the battle right there.

Good Luck.

 

Wrapped everything up tonight. Installed the broken hcu sensor, re-bled the brakes, topped up the tranny fluid, pupped the hood on and drove it away.

Looks like we've past the glitches, if my son stays out of the pedal until break-in is thru, we'll be good

The engine sounds great, all we have to do is get some proper exhaust clamps. The old 2 bolt style aren't compressing the main pipe tight enough under the floor pan. The previous owner had put on a pair of weak exhaust hangers at the tail pipes and, they keep dropping way below the bumper.

Glad to be done... Thanks for all the tips and help