Now, keep in mind, my dash ("dash region"?) also looks like this picture
posted in an earlier thread:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SW-fdOP_6nE/TvzHXjifK9I/AAAAAAAAACg/6OBli2UqA-U/s800/year-end-2011%252520049.JPG

and I have the shifter out waiting for the plasic ball top-and-bottom to
come.

And I did an auto -> manual tranny swap at the same time, and haven't bled
the clutch yet.

So it's not going to be actually driving anywhere any time soon, in other
words.

BUT IT STARTED!  First try.  If you start counting tries from the one after
my father-in-law noticed that I had left the fuel injection harness
unplugged when I was doing some re-routing or something.

WOOOHOOO!

I have much to do on it still, but I am so, so, so happy.  Just wanted to
share.

If anyone has questions about a complete amateur's perspective on doing one
of these conversions, I am fully qualified to answer :).    As long as
you're only asking about the period up to first start--I haven't gotten to
the point of being sure the themostat is opening and that I've bled the
coolant circuit correctly (which is a prerequisite to actually driving it).

Days like this are what the happy dance was invented for.

mike