Hmmmmmm..... I may see an issue on the cam timing. Look back at the 1st pix in post 118. It shows the cam dot at 6 o'clock. Both #1 and #6 cylinders should be at TDC in this situation; #6 cylinder is visible but its piston is nowhere close to being at TDC. Also, the crank key is not visible where it should be in this pix (around 1:30 o'clock when viewed from the front).
Back up OP, and set #1/#6 at TDC. Once that is done, then look to see if the dot on the cam is at either 6 or 12 o'clock. I suspect it will not be, based on this pix. However, you may have corrected this in-between times, but please re-check since the pushrod length check seems baffling.
