Do you have any sign of a bad seal on the inside of the drum backing plate? I had a bad axle bearing on my 66 Valiant wagon. It howled pretty good until I changed it.
I have a 903 in my 66 Valiant with a 225. I love it. No, it's not synchronized but I can throw it into 2nd going 5mph and its fine. And no, it doesn't have overdrive, but I have done 75mph for hours and the 225 just sings. Honestly having less gears to shift makes it very nice. I have a T5...
I have a 2001 Ram with the 5.9L, It runs great! I got it about 100,000 miles, now it's at 215,000. I still have 50-60 psi oil pressure. Great engine.
Now the body of the truck that's another story... Ha
Why not bring it to a machine shop for the cam bearings, and a check of the block. I do all my own work, but I know I am not a machinist and shops aren't that expensive.
I have 2 slants, one an auto and the other a manual. I have several V8's as well. I did a 5.9L swap into my 72 Charger. IMO I would keep the slant 6. Everybody has a V8 these days, how many people still have the slant 6. The slant is a fast peppy motor when it's running right. My slants will go...
I had an issue on an automatic where I randomly got nothing. The wire on the Neutral safety switch on the tranny was hanging on by hopes and dreams. Which is why it randomly completed the circuit. Good luck.
Just my $0.02
Whenever I rebuild a carb, with it right side up I blow in it. Then I flip it over, essentially closing the needle and seat and blow in it again to make sure it'll seal.
I had a weird knock on a new to me 318, it did have low oil pressure though when warmed up. I pulled the oil pan and the pickup was almost completely clogged with broken pieces of umbrella seals. Sadly it had been run long enough and spun a rod bearing. Thats the noise I was hearing. Might want...
I put leds in all my classics. Install them one at a time and you'll know if you installed them backwards. Put one bulb in and check the light, next bulb and check the light, etc. If you put them all in at once and it doesn't work you'll be chasing your tail until next week.
Your battery would be dead at a car show, etc, before it would start a fire if you had that bad of a short to ground like you're worried about.
You're more likely to have an electrical fire when it's running IMO.