On the gauges, you could put a tee fitting in where the oil pressure line is, or just find another plug. On the temp gauge, I don’t think a tee would work as well, just based on the length of the bulb. Maybe you could temporarily disconnect the factory gauge and use that hole? Of course, there may be another option I’m not thinking of.

Got the oil pan back on, thought it was time for a few pictures.

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Oh man - sorry to hear that. Your car has hydraulic lifters, right? Is it possible that two just didn't pump up, and maybe some simple cleaning will fix the problem?

I totally understand not wanting to go overboard, although I'm not qualified to give advice on how not to!

Been a frustrating year - hope your car is nicer to you next time you work on it!

And the plot thickens!

Yesterday, I painted the head and oil pan. The head had peeling paint from a coolant leak, and the oil pan was a bit scratched up. The engine had previously been repainted. I got my paint from Bill Hirsch, and I assumed what was on the engine was right. Nope! More blue less brown than the Hirsch green. So now what???? I’ll have to decide if I pull the engine out for pressure wash, wire wheel, and paint, or try to paint in frame, or live with it? I guess we’ll see how that goes...

Edit: may not be as bad as I thought. The head is freshly painted, the thermostat housing is not.

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Piston rings gapped, and all pistons in with new rod bearings. Next, oil pan re-installation, then the head!

Thanks Mal! Learned something new, again. All the better!

So, the top pump in my picture is aftermarket, and you see a casting number in the bottom pump?

Edit- after scuffing off a bunch of paint, I do see the number. Wouldn’t have called it 300071, but I’m sure it is. Eagle eyes! Aided by knowing where to look I’m sure. The aftermarket pump had such clear casting numbers, I totally missed the more subtle number.

Was able to accomplish a few things over the long weekend. I finished cleaning out the carbon from the valve gallery, cleaned the cylinders to remove honing dust, coated the cylinders with oil to avoid rust, cleaned the bearing journals, and cleaned out the valve guides. I also re-installed the valves, with a little help from my daughter (didn't think to grab a picture!), and set the clearance cold. I added 0.002 to the specified clearance on each valve, and will re-check with the engine warm and idling once it is all back together.

I also have a slight water pump mystery. In the interest of thoroughness, I took apart my water pump to inspect and rebuild. I also disassembled a brand-new pump I had on the shelf to compare. Interestingly, the existing pump doesn't have any casting numbers, but the one off the shelf does. I am assuming my spare was an original pump, and the one on the car was an aftermarket replacement. That's just a guess, but it makes sense to me. I'll re-assemble, paint, and install the new one, with the correct spring cap oilers installed, then rebuild the spare in my spare time.

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Well, I was vaguely interested in the car above, but it seems like a bit of a mongrel - every picture the seller shows has a different number, and it either doesn't have or he doesn't know what a body tag is. Can't get the wheelbase either.

Hope it sells to someone who will restore it! Meanwhile, I'll get back to putting my 120 back together

Compression looks pretty good. Did you try squirting a little oil down each cylinder and re-test? Also, did you hold the choke and throttle plate open?