unexpected motor rebuild.

I do not know how many miles exactly are on it, odo says 77k but it hasn't worked since I bought it. I tested the compression while I was messing with it before I got it to idle so it might not be exactly correct. I did rehone the cylinder walls so hopefully the rings actually seat

Should be good then. Personally I would double check your timing and make damn sure all vacuum ports are sealed except the one running to the vacuum advance. If you didn't pull the egr valve when you had it all apart you might want to check on that, they stop up with carbon sometimes and even tho it's not hooked up it can still affect performance. By the way, which Permatex did you use on the carb gaskets?

No egr, installed a block off plate in its place. Only vac lines still being used are the one going to the transmission, brake booster, and distributer. I checked everything with carb cleaner for vac leaks and all seemed good. I used gold or red rtv for everything, but gold on the carb. My main concerns are the lack of bott end power and the cold start. I think both can be fixed by getting the timing dead on and getting the carb right.

I've never used the gold rtv, how well does it hold up against fuel? Getting the timing dead on will help you a lot, I run mine advanced 1 deg but that's just personal preference. Once you get it to idle then setting timing will be easy.

I honestly don't know, I just saw that it had the highest temp rating so I went with it. I read somewhere that other than temps they are all about the same, but everyone seems to have their own opinion on it.

This is what it says on their web sight

OEM specified. For high operating temperatures common in 4-cylinder, turbocharged or high-performance engines. The most advanced, high temp RTV silicone gasket available. Sensor-safe, low odor, noncorrosive. Superior adhesion. Three times more oil resistant than conventional silicones; eight times more flexible than cut gaskets. Temperature range -65

Sounds like some beefy stuff. Some others have used the Permatex Aviation rtv on theirs and had good results so far.

I finally got the leaf springs and installed and the torsion bars adjusted. I can actually drive the truck comfortably and use it to haul things! The timing and carb are adjusted and better, there is still a bit of a dead spot when I put it to the floor but it's a lot better. I have a junk yard working on pulling a clutch fan and fan shroud. The overheating problem is better but still wants to get hot when idling, hoping the fan and shroud fixes the problem. Now I need to fix the speedometer and odometer, not real sure where to start on that, any help would be greatly appreciated. After that it's on to painting the tailgate and hood, installing a new radio and speakers, then fixing the aftermarket cruise control.

Likely the speedometer cable has broken. You can get another core out of a donor truck and you disconnect that to get it from the transmission. It will slide all the way out. If your own cable is broken you will have to pull the cluster out far enough to disconnect the cable from the back of the speedometer to retrieve the broken piece.

New updates:

I installed a whole new front end, looks a lot better

Painted the tailgate, I didn't have enough paint and did it in a bit of a hurry, but it matches great and looks way better.

Installed new battery

Installed a pioneer CD player, kicker speakers, and amplified them with an old eclipse 400w amp I had(they sound great!)

Installed lower radiator hose heater, help the ol girl start on those nasty -30 degree days we have in North Dakota

Installed battery charger under the hood

Fixed the speedo. Turns out the aftermarket cruise that was in the truck was the problem. There was a connector that attached to the end of the cable and ran into the tranny with a speed pickup that broke. So I simply removed the cruise control.

Still struggling with the timing and carb... Any help would be appreatiated. A guy I work with told me to set the timing with a vacuum gauge, but I am struggling with that. What is everyone getting for vacuum pressure at idle (800-1000 rpms)?

To set timing on these trucks you do NOT have the vacuum source connected. This should be stated on the hood sticker on the underside of your hood as well as the timing degree needed.

Here is a procedure for setting the timing.