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Has it been a month already?
My heads are back from the shop.
The springs and retainers are new, hardened seats installed and the shop found that my intake valve seats had been ground to the wrong angle, leaving a poor valve sealing surface. Heads are back on and after a bit more parts cleaning & assy, it will be time for paint. At this point I am getting the old engine ready to come out, though I would rather be squirrel hunting:)
Also just returned from picking up a used but mint engine hoist. Winner.

My engine is painted and getting close to going in. Even though it is a 352 Caribbean engine, I chose to paint it red so it sort of looks like it belongs (the intake & valley pan were already painted) and besides, Ivory really is an inane color for an engine. Hey, am I right?
The old engine may have been on the ground already but I was definitely in a "clean" mood today....I wonder if the manual trans should come out first or if I should just slide the engine forward & out?
The new gasket punch kit is a blast & attached is a photo of the fuel pump gasket. The water manifold gaskets were fun too.
Progress.

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Here is a pair of door locks from a full set that I scored recently.(Thanks Bill) One has been soaked in Evapo Rust and you just have to love this stuff. After flushing with brake cleaner, they will get a little graphite inside & they will live another day.

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The engine transplant is days away, just as soon as he weather cooperates. Last night, I spun up the oil pressure up and was surprised at just how much torque was required- although it was 30F in the garage.
When I fire this engine, I have a dip stick Oil heater that may just be perfect to warm things up?
If you have time for a couple questions about the throw out bearing & clutch fork, I will post these in a separate thread.
Thanks!

I just wonder what part of WI you live in? It's supposed to be zero overnight Wednesday here in MN, with a high of 14 on Thanksgiving day. That is not particularly cooperative weather unless you have a heated garage.

Glad you kept the red engine color, which will match the original 320. If you want a real original look, go for the Clipper valve covers instead of the Caribbean ones with "Packard" embossed on them. I think the Clipper valve covers all used a flat metal surface with a decal in '55.

If you got the Caribbean engine including carburetor, it will have a more potent 4-barrel than the basic Clipper motor came with. Having the manual trans and lighter Clipper body should give you all kinds of squeal appeal. Even my old 327 flathead 2-barrel straight 8 will light 'em up with the manual. One reason for this is the overdrive, which comes with a 4.10:1 differential.

I think if you can locate an overdrive unit, it is a pretty simple installation, except for driveshaft modifications. If you added the 4.10 differential to the manual and all that V8 power, it would be a ball at cruise events and stoplights. Since your Stripper wasn't fated to be a "numbers-matching" vehicle, why not get some fun out of "period correct" modifications?

With a little break in thre weather scheduled for Sat, I may not have to look at this much longer?

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We listened to the first half on Sunday as the Packers spanked the Patriots and after ? an hour of trying, we just couldn't get the tranny pilot to go into the bearing. Another ? hour on Monday & I decided to start over, pull the trans and bolt things up that way. The whole assy is pretty long and being too lazy to remove the cross member, things were a bit complicated but the heavy stuff is back in..
Things are resting comfortably and the next couple of days should see all the hardware reinstalled.
Perhaps she will fire up on Saturday.
One thing that I noted is that the bell housing has to be bolted to the manual trans for removal & installation due to the throw out bearing and retainer spring set up...

Funny, for some reason, I don't recall being so stiff & sore after being under a car for hours back when I was 17?
Things are pretty close now, just need to re install the throttle hardware, cooling system, cap & wires, etc.
Everything is tight, lubed, cleaned up. Oooh, shiny.
She should run sweet!

It's ALIVE.
Last night it was around 32 and I had a old dipstick oil heater in the engine for an hour or so, also had the coolant in the house and warm so it would not be such a cold start on a fresh engine. The battery was down a little and the starter a bit tired and she just didn't want to fire.
Today after going over the timing several times and cables to a second battery for a little help, she finally roared to life!
There were the usual drips & stuff that needed an extra 1/4 turn but all seems well. The plan is to check over things again before a spin and then off to bed for the winter.
I expect things to be pretty tight for the first K and then it will be 4 ply bias terror
Ah, this celebratory beer is nice.

Congrats. It's nice to put something away for the winter when it's been started and run. If it didn't start the first try, that;s a good thing. Cranking it slow gives oil a chance to start flowing before it hits running rpm. Not a bad idea to do this on the first start after it sits over winter; disconnecting the coil wire and turning it over a few times. It'll pump some gas up to the fuel bowl, too, probly.