2 steps forward one step back.
I was not able to get the valve re-centered last night despite multiple attempts at simulating a leak in the front by opening the bleeder valve while my lovely assistant smashed the brake pedal to move the piston the other way.
I decided to move back to the engine and fire it up and test all of the new accessories. I put the new wheels and tires on and put the car on the ground to move to the next phase despite the brake issues. Highly impressed with the new carb from Eric. It's been about 15 months since I last started this car. With a new carb and conventional thermostatic choke (vs. electric on the old carb) and a newly rebuilt fuel pump I figured it might take some finagling to get it running. I spun it over until it had oil pressure and it fired without even having to pump the gas pedal, went to high idle and ran perfectly - finally some good luck! After a bit of a warm up it came down to medium and then normal idle, so that is a huge part of the project that is now mostly complete. The new temperature sending unit appears to be working properly as well. I have a minor fuel leak at the rear inlet I need to address by snugging up the line a bit - but otherwise all good.
Having a hard time inserting the video of the car running but here is the link:
https://youtu.be/Y3pDBzgpED4
Liking the look of the new wheels and tires, wheels are 15 x 7 and tires are the modern size equivalent of F60-15.