I was able to pick up a good running slant to swap into my truck which will allow me to begin the rebuild of the original engine. Ive been reading up on the rebuild threads and was wondering if there are specific things to watch out for on the hydraulic engines. Also, if Dad Truck you're reading this, I cant find the thread when you talk about your hydraulic truck build

here you go

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43301

concerning hydraulic motors,
1) watch the hydraulic lifter pre load. There is plenty, but I am sure it is possible to get it out of kilter.
if you are having valve seat work done, tell the shop it is a hydraulic lifter motor, would be nice to get the
seats all at the same depth.

2) be sure to clean out and check the push rod and rocker arm oil passages, they need to be clear and open.
After cleaning the outside, I spray carb cleaner through those. I pulled the plugs out of the rocker shaft to get it clean inside.

3) if you are going with an after market cam, it will need to have the full groove on the rear journal, like your OE cam.

4) like any motor, after hot tank, machining and final wash,
I always run a bottle brush and a cleaning-flush solution through all the: block, head, crank, oil passages.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Thanks a lot DT! That is a lot to digest and good stuff! Now that I have an engine to run while I'm going through all this I can take my time and do it right once the way it should be done.

and here is how I measured lifter preload,
I got this tip from Charlie S

* with the valve cover off, set a cylinder at TDC, there should be slight free play on both rockers
* set a flat scale on the valve cover rail so it rests lightly against a set of intake - exhaust push rods
* use a sharp knife or razor blade to put a light scratch in the push rod OD at the exact scale height
* loosen the rocker arm shaft mount bolts and remove the shaft/rockers. Hold each previously marked
push rod vertical and mark a second scratch. It should be below the first mark.

remove the push rods,
The distance between the marks is the lifter preload of your OE engine,
with the top mark being assembled preload, the bottom mark being no preload.
The distance from the top end of the push rod to the top mark is an indication of the preload location.
record both measurements, photograph,,.

After you have milled the head, installed a new or reground cam.

Repeat the above, mark the pushrods in the vertical free state, using the same flat scale as a steady rest.
Assemble in the rocker arm, use the same flat scale and mark again.
Compare the results to the OE measurements obtained previously.
It will give you an idea of where the new lifter preload sets and whether or not you
will need to adjust the push rod length.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

If I'm installing new lifters is this necessary?

If you are having the head cut and / or having the cam reground or installing a different cam, then yes.
There is a lot of pre load travel in the slant hydraulic lifter, but targeting back to the OE range is always safe.
When I re built the 83 motor, I had the head cut .042, the block cleaned up .010 IIRC
That brought the rocker shaft closer to the cam, would have increased the preload depth.
I also had the OE cam reground, that dropped the lifters away from the rocker shaft, and decreased
lifter preload.
So the two changes, together cancelled each other out with regards to lifter preload.
I would not have known that if I had not collected data before and after.
By having data, I knew that my stock OE pushrods would be fine and I did not need
to have custom length pushrods made.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Sounds good. From what I've been reading I think your build is the closest to what I'm trying to get out of my truck - a nice fat torque band as high as I need to rev, decent mileage (as much as can be expected out of a brick) and reliability. I'll be yanking the tired engine out in the next day or two to swap the interim engine in then I'll begin the process of education and analysis of what I'm working with.