what i learned not necesarily gonna fit with " the right way", just my view from the small experince i have, but hey if it helps...!
if you buy something second hand, budget or expect to have to do everything, for peace of mind
then when you find something you can use its just a "good start" to the day
before takeing anything apart. do some measurement its easier to work out deck hight if you have the piston depth down the bore at TDC and makes buying new pistons easier in repect to CR decking and head work
try to get a measurement for open and fully closed with the standard valves retainers and cam.
handy for many purchases valves, seals, retainers springs. how close is the base of the reatiner to the top of the guide when all standard, adjust for new cam and will it all work..?
this gives you easy ballpark measurement for buying stuff.
don't be put off by people who say real engine builders don't use plastiguage
its a great indictor for comparison purposes, don't dismiss a tool from the arsenal....
before disasembly of rotating parts couple of strips across all mains and re-torque of caps with original bearings can idicate bent crank or just an good indication of how worn it is. pre warned gives confidence in purchaseing and purchasing order, of parts and services. bad balancer or wrong flexplate/converter or flyhweel can batter the front or rear bearing and its cap into oval submission.
if you buy engineering tools micrometers etc. second hand good stuff off ebay is great. but make sure the gaugeblock for setting it up is included and its not rusty. if the micrometer is for 2-4 inches then you need the 2 inch guage block/rod for setting zero, plenty of proper ex retired engineer stuff available.
a set of snap guages and a decent micrometer will get you a very long way.
a dial based bore guage takes a level of skill that is easier learned from somone who knows how to use it effectivly.
only change the "honed in place at the factory" cam beraings if you really have to.
any main bearing cap that can be lifted out by hand is scrap. they should be tight in the block regsiter.
steel rockers with a roller tip are perfectly ok. you don't need full roller aluminium unless you are expecting constant high rpm use, race parts do fail, steel is for street longevity
if you use stainless valves you probably do not need hardend seats in the heads, but if you do want to, just the exhausts will do.
buy a small block book, larry shepherds book is ok there may be better but i quite like his old school blunt delivery about things to improve for a specific intended use of the engine, and his insistance that mopar got it more or less right from the start.
apologies if i'm teaching you to suck eggs, i never knew what questions to ask so didn't ask and made some silly mistakes in respect to the order i did things... having a good engineering shop who will apply their experience certainly helps if you want to do all but the macheining yourself
for exmaple i know bugger all about piston to bore clearance so the block and the pistons in their box with all the detail on the end and a ref to the specification on the internet was printed out and sent. that way they could look up exactly what size the hole should be.
the pistons were weight matched numbered and had a bloody big arrow drawn on the top to show which way they fitted. hard to tell if they were even removed from the box but they were there in case they needed them.
its a damn sight easier to get somone else to measure the crank to confirm or contradict what you measured decide on a undersize between you based on need and what is available for your motor, then buy the bearings, and take crank block bearings in,
than it is to measure the bores measure the crank and work this out yourself and discover that you can't go that small or the bearinsg are not easily
available.
don't be scared of well lubed wet n dry paper to "fix" the odd mishapp or out of spec part
rod big ends probably need reszing regardless, unless brand new, but check em anyway
get somone to fit push fit piston pins using a proper " temperature Controlled" small end heater and appropriate piston pin stop.
use a rollmaster timing set, they tend to get the keyways in the right place, ask the cam grinder how the cam should be set up. they will give you a specification but ask anyway in regards to advance retard or straight up
if you ding a crank journal as long as there is no high spot it will Bananarama! self out before its broken in....
a crank with a knurl to the main seal surface really really should be built with a rope seal or appropriately rated inch/second gland packing. it will ruin a rubber one. if its worn off, rubber is the only way, if its been align bored you may need to shim the seal with a sliver of metal burried in a bead of silicone underneath. they don't align bore the seal housing and the crank may be sitting closer to the cam than it was, basically a few thou off centre with the houseing creating a leak from day1.
make sure lifters turn in bores and don't get oil, assembly lube or sealer trapped in the bottom of blind holes, easy to hydrulic and crack things
have fun and walk away when frustrated or distracted.
Advice i didn't follow myself. i proved to myself that you can't build an engine and be on-call for work at the same time
new head gasket and more days of reassembly
Dave