UPDATE Rebuild first startup questions

It's your baby now! -Glad to hear you got it figured out.

-pretty sure Jeep-Eagle sponsored US Olympic team but couldn't find any info on it...

...just passing the torch to you!


Edited by amcenthusiast - Jun/19/2017 at 7:26pm

worry early and often (you did) now drive it! it will "loosen up" over the next few K miles and get faskter and smoother. i'd take it sort-of easy for 1000 miles, rev it but not excessive, etc and of course watch for weirdness (leaks, whatever) but chances are you're at the 95% point and all you gotta do is tune it.

Once you do the "cam break-in" thing, take the car out and go to an open UNBUSY highway. 
If it's a stick, keep it in as high a gear as you can without lugging it and do full-throttle accel to about 50-55 mph, then back down to about 15 or 20, then full throttle to about 50-55 again, then back down, etc. 
Do this 3 or 4 times. 
Break-in is now done. 

Think I'm kidding? That's from DANA Corporation - they were the makers of Perfect Circle piston rings. That is what was taught in engine building in high school and college. (I may have their exact mph off by a little bit, but that's very close to what the factory books said. 
You should not see anything in the oil beyond perhaps a bit more grey than usual in the first change. 
for one thing, the filter should catch pretty much anything, and for another, what is there to be in the oil? Certainly nothing at all from the bearings, not even a tad, nothing from the cam and lifters - there'd better not be anything silvery, flecks, etc. and as far as the rings and cylinders, you should see almost nothing there, too. Where you see gray or silver in any quantity beyond the first change is where the hone job was incorrect for the type and material of rings used. 
In the case of the 4.0 shown below, it uses no oil between changes (stays pretty much at the full mark), the first oil change was a tad more dirty than subsequent changes but there was never any silver or gray look at all, ever. The oil looked normal every change after the first (and even the first wasn't much beyond normal)
Think of it - factory engines will often display factory hone marks in the cylinders tens of thousands of miles down the road. The rings can't wear so much they leave debris in the oil or there'd be nothing left of them after a while. 
Engines like a 390, etc.  - the old school with carburetors and no computer, will have dirtier oil due to the dirtier combustion but later engines shouldn't even have that upon first oil change.  And if Perfect Circle says after that highway break-in it's done, it's broken in, you'd better not see anything in the oil.
They WILL loosen up with time - I've found most will need about 10K miles to be truly where they are going to run for the next tens of thousands - but you won't see it visibly in the oil or elsewhere. 

You can literally get the timing to within a degree of perfect before you even start it. Use a continuity tester across the points - you'll need to disconnect the distributor from the coil.
Run the crank shaft until the timing marks line up to where your engine should be - if it says 6 degrees BTDC then line the mark up with 6 degrees. 
Rotate the distributor body in the direction of timing RETARD so the points are closed and your tester indicates continuity.
Now rotate the distributor body in the direction of timing advance until the tester JUST STOPS, BARELY, JUST stops. (light goes out, buzzer stops buzzing, etc.)
Snug the distributor down to specs. Your timing is now set and should be spot on - or if it's off, by hardly a degree at most. 

You don't need any fancy tool to prime the oil pump - on an AMC  a speed handle and screwdriver bit will do and you can whip that thing up to 50 PSI or better depending on your arms. You can actually make oil squirt from the rockers. No drill, no fancy expensive special tool. A speed handle and screwdriver bit. 

I had to learn a few tricks as in order to force me to go to my potential, my auto instructor was a bit ornery and for my semester finals while the others worked in teams with the scope, timing light, tach/dwell meter and the latest in tools and equipment of the time, I had to work with basic hand tools - not even a feeler gauge. My engine still had to check out in specs to pass. I did. Dwell, timing, etc., all were in specs. (and went on to set records at the state level Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest)
After all of these years, I know why he and my later college profs were so hard on me....... 

In the picture below, the blue hose is the mechanical oil gauge I use, you can see the speed handle, and there's oil flowing from every rocker arm...........
The engines start quickly, I don't have to worry about timing, etc. and they have oil pressure right away. (of course the 4.0 has no timing worries anyway - haha)

Since your cam is not stock, is not the one used with the previous engine setup, it is understandable that the initial timing that works best may be different than before.