Engine is done and ready for pickup

I got word today that the engine is complete!  Tomorrow we plan to pick it up and bring it to our mechanic to put in this week for us.  Also tomorrow we plan to drop the fuel tank and install our new fuel sender.  I  bought a rebuild kit for the shifter so if there is daylight tomorrow I can work on that.
Once the engine is in, we must "break it in." Below iare the complete instructions given to me by Bear~

"remember it must have oil put in it, and when you first start it, run it at 2000 / 2500 for at least 15 minutes, if at anytime you have to stop before the 15 minutes are up, you have to start over, once this is done, let the engine cool for a hour, then set the timing to 7.5, now it is time to break in the rings, do the speeds four times and let the engine back down slowly, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50. Now you can drive the van up to 55 MPH, put 300 miles on it, driving around where ever you want, then change the oil and filter, now you are good to go for 1000 miles, not exceeding 60 MPH, once this is done be nice to the engine but you can go faster, Remember hills will burn up your engine, so take it easy climbing them. I would recommend a CHT and a OIL TEMP set up on it and use it Max head temp is 450F and max oil temp is 230F any oil temp over 250F you are doing damage to the engine. 450F is the max for the heads, any amount of time above this could damage the engine.  Remember, this engine has no oil in it, put in 3 QTs, run the engine it's 15 minutes, then top it up to the top line."

We are so excited to be on the road in less than one week from now!  Then only a few more weeks of saving and preparing and are off to the Western Wilderness once again.