Got the motor running finally. Took most of Sunday but the last major roadblock for getting this thing together is finally done. Crazy to think I was originally hoping to have it in sometime in February. Just to recap:
Water pump leaked, dissembled pulley kit to tighten one bolt
water neck wouldn't seal
second water neck had a crack
oil filter mounting plate leaked
power steering line broke
cam timing was way off
dissembled pulley kit, water pump and timing cover
ripped front seal and oil pan gasket
dissembled oil pan and put in a new gasket
reassembled the motor
replaced ballast resistor due to a crack
replaced starter due to a possible short
What a trip, pretty convinced i'll likely just order a crate motor if I ever choose to go with something new in the distant future but I don't regret building this one for the experience. Time to get everything on the car I can and find some time to install the engine. Still not sure how I'm going to go about doing it. It would be lovely to get that driveline dolley but not sure it's worth the $$$ for a one time thing.