[FabricGATOR]

What was to operational condition of the vehicle before all this work?

1st 1st
If it don't crank we'll have a hard time figuring out if it'll run..

If you lie down under the front of the vehicle and touch the probe of a multimeter to the positive battery post on the starter, do you show voltage?

Please, I am not trying to be semantic, rather just trying to help you gather some baseline data. I can tell that you are quite capable and are pulling your hair out. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be doing all of this work, to the very best of your ability, only to be cheated of the purr of a warm engine idling and the growl of the exhaust as you stomp on the accelerator....

I get "Analysis Paralysis" sometimes and a mentor taught me how to calm the mind and be methodical in my troubleshooting.

 

[FabricGATOR]

So Mattsblues, when you said you wanted a newer transmission and found one...
Did you integrate a different unit into working with your vehicle or did you simply swap in a salvage unit from the same year/make/model?

 

[FabricGATOR]

OK, so you are not quite there yet. Still have wires to connect, sensors, etc....

You went to prime the oil system and the starter did not turn over?

I'd imagine that it the vehicle does not know the transmission is in either park or neutral... (transmission range switch) that for safety's sake, its not going to allow it to crank.

musicians...geeze.

Best of luck to you, looks good.
More pictures, get r done!

 

[FabricGATOR]

Also, not everything is hooked up for the engine to run. I have an oxygen sensor and the coil pack not plugged in and the fuse for the fuel pump pulled. The reasoning was to crank and build oil pressure on the new assembly before putting the fire into it.

I'll need to find more wiring diagrams to better understand what's going on, but I tend to think the transmission range sensor would have nothing to do with other functions of the PCM and be mutually exclusive to the rest. Am I wrong?

Folks, Et al,
I believe that mattsblues was merely trying to crank the engine to prime the oil.
When it didn't crank as expected, I then think that he imagined all sorts of compatibility issues and other faults.
I bet that without the range sensor plugged in that a safety lockout stopped the ability to crank/start the engine (in gear) because the PCM was not sure if the engine was in either park or neutral.
Also from what I read, I believe he rebuilt and painted the original engine, got a low mile transmission from salvage.