Today was a long day in the garage making all the connections to the engine and the transaxle. Everything in the engine bay and under the car is now connected.
I filled the engine with 15W-50 break-in oil and I filled the transaxle with 80W-90 gear oil.
I cranked the engine with the ignition and the fuel systems disabled and no spark plugs to pre-lube the engine prior to start up. The oil pressure warning light went out after 5 seconds of cranking - I cranked the starter 15 seconds, then stopped let it cool down 5 minutes then repeated 15 second cranking 2 more cycles. Each time the oil pressure warning light went out so I know I was building oil pressure, but the oil pressure gauge was reading near zero. I had installed a new "OEM" oil pressure sending unit from Pelican Parts, so I removed the new oil pressure sending unit and re-installed the old sending unit, then re-ran the cranking test, the oil pressure gauge was now reading 15-20 PSI during cranking.
I removed the muffler which I had only loosely installed for the engine / transaxle insertion into the car (I had to get the weight balance correct for the jack adapter I was using). Then I re-installed the rear bumper and rear side pieces and then installed the muffler. Once the muffler was installed, I tightened the v-clamps for the header extensions and installed the wide band O2 sensor and the O2 sensor interface unit.
Next up will be to adjust the clutch, connect the shift lever to the transaxle, install new spark plugs, and add fresh gas to the tank which I pumped dry 4 months ago, then I should be ready for engine start up.