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Kinda late, but always check and see if you can turn it by hand before firing them up. If no, stop and start partial tear down and inspection. A bore scope is a nifty tool to have for this. But a light and angle mirror will do.
If not a valve train issue grabs one, there can be lower end issues as well.
Things that sit and aren't operating are like that most likely for a reason. Also can suffer from poor storage conditions. The part they don't tell you or don't know. I bought a "rebuilt" for a rebuild shop that sat for 10 years, and it was junk. Needed sleeves and had cracked heads. We did salvage all the new parts for the original motor rebuild. I was trying to save some time, but back fired on me.
I like to push down on the fan belt and see if it'll go like that because it doesn't take much resistance to stop belt tension rotation. Sometimes it's the accessories, gen, A/C, PS, etc. that are faulty if the motor is OK.
Maybe find another car and part this one out might be a better option.

Take note of the stuck valves and when you can turn over the engine again, move the crankshaft 1/2 turn and test the valves again. If you have a piston very near the top of the bore it may seem like a stuck valve... I think. Just be sure to look at the camshaft, to be sure you're not depressing the valves you want to test.

Unfortunately I don't/didn't have a way to turn over the 356 without the starter, short of barring it over painfully slowly with a crowbar in the ring gear teeth. No water pump or belt, and no socket that fits the crank bolt. the 359 I can turn over fine by hand since the front bolt is 1" which I do have plenty of options that fit.

Any recommendations on getting the valves loose without getting the head off? don't want to put too much into the 356, just want to get it good enough to run. it doesn't seem that bad, it was still in the car when pulled, dry stored in a barn, even still had some coolant left in the block. Classic "ran when parked", was tempted to believe since everything else I was told had checked out so far.

It really depends on what caused the valves to stick as to whether you can free them without removing the head. Almost any kind of penetrating solution would need to be administered from the top so it could run down the valve guides. With your description and the possibility that stuck valves was the cause of the gear breaking leaving the head on does not seem likely.

Assuming it is something like rust causing the problem -- and rusted and sticking valves was an issue with the 356 even new because of inadequate crankcase ventilation -- you might luck out. Several prewar improvements were made in the oil fill tube and cap venting configuration to improve air flow in attempts to control the rusting and a light rust deposit should free relatively easily. You might be able to loosen springs enough to squirt some penetrating fluid via a tube nozzle up from below but I doubt there is enough room with a lifter still in place to get much access..

Since yours does not seem to have a light stickiness a bigger issue could be due to old gas. Several who managed to start an engine on old stale gas came out to work on a car again after a few days. They tried another start only to find stuck valves. In a couple of cases a valve or two was stuck so badly it took brute force and resulting damaged valves to get the varnish that had deposited on the stems to break free from the guides.

How annoying is it to take the manifolds off of the engine? Do they usually come off straight, or usually need to be resurfaced before going back on? If easy enough, I might whip them off and sauce the valve stems/guides that way.

The intake and exhaust manifolds are bolted together and come off as a unit. Do not attempt to separate them. A couple of the inner nuts behind the carb section are a pain to access and offset wrenches or some kind of compact universal socket is almost a must. Other than that and lifting the weight, the manifolds usually come off without much hassle as long as the proper nuts were used the last time they were installed. Whether they are still straight and can go back on without machining is another matter and impossible to say.

While the attaching nuts are supposed to be brass, unless you can tell for sure it would be a good idea to give them all a liberal dose of penetrating fluid for a day or so before trying to remove the manifolds. If steel nuts were used there is every chance they will be rusted to the studs. Removing a broken stud where they often break flush with the block is not fun and waiting for a replacement to arrive may take time.

How to test: remove the rocker arm asy (if feasible) and tap the tops of the valve asys with a dead blow hammer. Don't use a steel hammer.

Quote:

356 is a flat head, no rockers to be removed.

The c-clamp valve compressor is what I’ve always used on in-line Packard engines from the 245 to the 359 and it’s always worked well for the purpose. The head, of course, must be off in order to use it.

New question, I finally got a 1.75" socket for the front bolt, however the old brace the breaker and bump the starter trick didn't work, how do you guys lock up the motor to crack it off? And it's not a left hand thread, is it? The service manual I found in the literature section didn't mention it at all, besides the torque value when reassembling.