Devoncoolman and shadowdog, If I were to put an engine in something that means I'm planning to keep it for a good while. That being said my engines are not re ring jobs, but full on rebuilds. I use new pistons and rings, I have a dial bore gauge and have the cylinders oversized if they are out of spec. I check the rods, and mains for spec. I replace the cam bearings and replace a non roller cam and lifters. I use premium gaskets and always use a new oil pump. As for the heads I use new springs, lap the valves, (I will replace any out of spec) and check the flatness on a surface gauge. If there are very high miles on the engine then the heads are sent out for a rebuild. You can get new parts pretty reasonable through online sales. I also have a brother that is a toolmaker that lets me use his shop if I need to. No way can I rebuild one in a weekend, but to me it is fun and I don't count my time. I just did a complete overhaul on a 350 for my boat. From pan to carb (I upgraded to a four barrel) I had $1400 into it. You can't smell a marinized short block for that. And I would never put a used engine in a boat that my family will be riding in. Sorry I highjacked this thread, back to the cool tools!
You are doing a proper rebuild and I would do the same. My list could have been a lot longer, but I was just trying to point out that people can't rebuild an engine for a few hundred bucks like wizzard claims. New rings and bearings don't constitute a rebuild.
I posted my tools to show what I use to rebuild an engine. They are simple tools compared to the exotic stuff some show, but it's really all you need, along with patience, and double checking everything.
The last couple street and boat engines I played with we just ordered a reman engine and tore the tins off to double check everything. Most of the work is done, and you are just confirming the tolerances. On one of the remaned engines the oil pickup was laying in the bottom of the pan when we pulled it, so it is always a good idea to pull the tins off and inspect a reman engine anyway.
For race engines(which I havent played with in a long time). I advise people to go with a known combination that uses readily available parts. I used to share a shop with a guy who always made oddball, wild combinations. Using custom Pistons with ultra low compression heights, extra long connecting rods with undersized journals, so he could have the crank custom ground to a smaller journal to increase the stroke. This increased the rod ratio and allowed for screaming high RPM(he must have read "Power Secrets" by Smokey Yunick), but when he blew something up (which will happen eventually to a screaming race engine) he would be down for months waiting for new super custom parts. If he had a regular combination with redilay available parts he would have only been down for a week or two, and it would cost a lot less money.
Chris
rod bolt stretch gauge makes calculating torque much easier 
