318 LA rebuild after losing a valve seat

Yeah, that's what the joke was. I was measuring at BDC in the picture. I thought I needed BDC and TDC measurements.

Anyway, credit to nm9 for pointing out that the crank key wasn't visible when the gears were both straight up. That's where I screwed up. I turned the crank until the keyway was at 1:30 and installed the crank gear, boom - problem solved. I removed the checking springs and re-installed the springs I'll be using, then installed the checking rod. I slowly expanded the rod until zero lash, then measured and added .050 to account for preload. The result was 7.503 - strikingly close to the stock rod measurement at 7.500. Hmmm.....

I know a lot of you will say "I told you so," but I checked P-V clearance with the stock rods, and I measured .125. Plenty of room.

Also at the recommendation of nm9, I advanced the timing 4 degrees so I'll have a little more low end torque. This is going to be a street cruiser build, just looking for a reliable motor with a little bit of pep when I want it.

I'll be installing the heads and timing cover tomorrow, then prepping for one more shot of paint with hardener with everything assembled that'll be Chrysler Blue.