Great News!
The engine fired on the first turn of the key.
On first power up the ECM turns the fuel pump on for a few seconds to pressurize the system. After letting the pump run and shut down, I checked for leaks, I did have a minor leak at one of the connections. Tighten it down a little more and the leak is fixed. I then jumped the fuel pump relay to force the fuel pump on for about 20 seconds, at which point my test gauge showed about 50 lbs of pressure. Turned the key to crank and the engine fired up instantly, it was so loud that I immediately turned it off. After a few seconds I realized that this thing is the loudest engine I have ever been around. I crank it again at let it idle for about 10 seconds before turning it off. It seemed to idle smoothly, just too loud to leave it running. This LS3 is louder than a jet taking off.
The old exhaust system is still dangling under the car about 5 inches away from the end of the headers. If I can figure some cheap way to hook it up I may try so I can get a few minutes of running before taking everything back apart.
I was planning to drive the car about 50 miles before starting the restoration, but I have concluded that the rear axel is damaged and probably would not last 50 miles so the restoration begins this weekend.
