Let the Troubleshooting Begin!

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

OK, so the motor's been in for less than 12 hrs and I'm ready to start
tracking down little problems...

When idling, it purs very nicely.  Push the cluttch in, and the revs go up
significantly.. 

As I mentioned this morning, I haven't installed the engine/body ground
strap yet... is this the case?  Why would the RPM go up when a good ground
is found?

Noticed one of my lifters took a while to pump up... it was over a quart low
at first, but even after adding more than enough oil, it clattered for a
bit.. a few minutes of driving and it cleared up, and I haven't noticed it
since.

The hesitation off-idle is annoying.. I guess I need to adjust the
accelerator pump linkage.. there's a screw on it w/ a spring.. is this the
culprit?

the 304 is HARD to start.  Granted, the choke is non-functioning, but it's
still hard to get it to fire... I drove to work around 9:30, and at 11 or so
moved the Scout to the under-ground garage (started raining - no hood,
soft-top w/ sides up), it took me a while to work it up... dunno yet if the
float bowl is going dry, or what the problem is.

While taking the motor from the '72, something odd was found on the
fiirewall.  Wires ran from the distributor and coil to this box mounted on
the firewall.  The '72 has points of course.  This box is not gold.

It's a square box with cooling fins on the edges.  It was glued or epoxied
*and* screwed (via a single center screw ala houshold electrical outlets) to
a square metal plate with a dish in it.  In the dished portion were 4 sheet
metal screws that held it to the firewall.

I took it with the motor, even though I have no clue what it does... it was
hooked to my coil, so it might be important.  Looking like 8 wires or so to
this thing.. more than a couple, anyhow. 

What is it??!!

Every vacuum port is plugged.  Vac. from carb to distributor, carb to brake
booster, and that's about it.  No emissions stuff.. that went away.

Long night tonight cleaning up "details" I guess... probably should put the
hood on before I leave for Nationals... ;)

Oh.. I need to figger out exhaust, too... shoulda paid better attention to
the recent threads (I'll probably peruse my archives tonight)..

The glasspack on the left side sounds GREAT... but probably too loud at
times to put a full on glasspack dual exhaust.  The stock muffler on the
right sounds much quieter.. but not as "cool"

It was suggested I get a set of Flowmasters.. time to price exhaust parts..

What I'd like is a soft rumble at idle (gotta be able to sneak round the
hills or back streets y'know), and ideally quiet when cruising or moderate
acceleration..  but a nice bark when I put my foot in it. :-)  Of course,
that does NOT promote good driving behavior... at least, not in me! :)

-Tom