the motor is almost ready to fire. I was wondering, when you put the dist. in it has to point to #1 at TDC right? does it have to be exact? Also, what should i do proir to starting it? I oiled up the rockers and spring and all that, anything else?
thanks

You should prime the oiling system before dropping the distributor in place. There is a tool that attached to a drill just for this purpose. It looks like a distributor shaft. Assuming you have an oil pressure gauge you should see pressure on the gauge and feel drag on the drill motor.

Be sure the engine is about 10 degrees BTDC with number one firing then drop the distributor in with the rotor pointed to number one. It doesn't have to be super duper exact, but the closer the better. When you fire the engine the first time have a timing light hooked up and have a friend crank the engine. Leave the distributor clamp a bit loose so you can barely move the distributor in case you have to rotatate it to get it to fire.

Good luck. Firing new engines is fun.

Before you pop on the intake, eyeball the lifters for #1 & #6. Even if you lined up the dots, it is still possible you are on 6 and not 1. I've seen it happen a few times, including once to me. Which ever cylinder has both lifters all the way down is at tdc firing.

I like to drill a 1/8" air bleed hole in the perimiter of the thermostat so the system is fully filled. That way you don't have to wait for the system to burp. If you don't do this, you will see the temp gage shoot up toward 220 till the stat finally opens. You have better things to keep your attention on when engine comes to life.