can't say if any of this is useful i have little experience with big cast iron engines or even engines cooled with water....
but i did screw my own rebuild up in minor ways a number of times before achieving reasonable success, so this is just based on what i found
look out for mis matched parts... rods repurposed pistons etc
look out for main caps that are stretched and just fall out of their register, front one... they should need a soft mallet tap and a bit of wiggling to get them out.
look at rear main seal surface of crank..if its smooth use a rubber seal if it has a good visible knurl (it won't) you probably need to consider a rope seal. rope seal expensive Gland packing cheap, much the same stuff just work out the meters/ second shaft speed rating before purchase based on 6000 rpm
look out for loose pickup tube. or bent pickup for the oil pump, due to thumped in sump
look out for sharp wafer thin drive cogs
binding oil pump relief valve..
check dipstick tube is tight
don;'t trust TDC on balancer check it
original crank journals had small radius to each side, a slight under cut, reground might not unless you ask. make sure you check the side clearances. With no little radius you might need to massage the sides of the bearings to leave a space for the oil to get out ..
the squirters on the rods all face 1 way, obvious from cap and rod numbering but... its an easy check
only change the cam bearings if you really really have to... originals were fitted and honed/aligned in the block.
you will need a timing set, may as well get a proper roller chain one romac do a good one with a German IWIS chain and a torrington bearing on the back of the cam sprocket
nylon cam button
oil slinger goes in with the concave facing the seal, other way round it just damages the chain
look out for stuff that has been copper or hard chrome plated. big ends small ends, valve stems etc was once used to adjust clearances , pointless waste of cash these days, bodge bodge bodge to get an engine sold as good when really its made from worn out parts.
look out for oil gallery plugs...make sure you know all of them, and make sure they are wound back in just far enough.. wind em in too far an you can reduce the bore of the corner in the gallery that they usually occupy.
its well worth using brass core plugs and the kit may well not have the one that fits at the back of the cam. so don't take that one out. its oily so won't rust
remember block decking and head skimming will eventually put you in a position where you need work to the manifold faces to get it to fit.
and the dowel holes need to be drilled deeper by the amount you removed ,block head wise.
buy the best hydraulic lifters you can afford (Johnson Hi-Lift). check their fit in the lifter bore check they can rotate easily. oiled they should slide through bore slowly and not bind and not just fall out
paint a line on each push rod from head to rocker so you can run engine with tins off and see the pushrods turning with the lifter if pushrod doesn't turn then lifter isn't turning and going further will wipe cam and lifter
Buy a flex hone, if you end up using 2 sets of rings it will be handy
don't put the second ring on upside down like i did...
if you use adjustable rockers get pushrods made so that the adjuster has 99% of its thread used, adjusters sticking a long way out snap, they have cut rather than rolled threads so the stresses get to them if they have little support...
and if too far out holes for oiling do not line up so the pushrod/rocker pressure point does not get lubrication
the original bolts for the oil pan and rocker tins, timing cover etc are the best, they have a lead section before the thread to help get them started
worth sticking them in rust remover and using again. new stock looks shiny and nice but you will curse them if you ever need to remove and replace the sump or timing cover in situe
ARP main studs are a nice thing but don't feel compelled to get them for a standard build
if you change the bolt in the rods you will need to get the rods resized and checked. best just check em with plastigauge first Chrysler bolts ok, check they are all the same length
get someone with a piston pin fitting heater thingo to put the pistons on the rods if yours are press fit its just easier
dunno how your oil pump works but get the best quality drive, if yours needs replacing. And its worth just checking its all in tolerance and doesn't spend too much time trying to compress UNcompressible oil. inlet window and outlet window should close and open simultaneously, if they don't you just load up the pump and drive trying to compress oil...which can't be done, just wastes power, stresses the pump and drive and causes the drive gears to wear to razor sharp thin shadow of their former selves. you can port a pump and not just at the point where it clamps to the block....
pack it with Vaseline (cheap) or assembly lube (not as cheap). you need it to be a good sucker for start up, the grease lets you suck the air through the pickup till oil arrives....
flywheel boss and mounting face should be spotless. any rust or muck or oil stops the necessary microwelding/friction that keeps it from slicing through the dowel?? if you have one, and bolts. any chafing back and forth and the flywheel or clutch or bits of bellhousing will join you in the cabin at some point
original Chrysler flywheel or flex plate bolts do the job fine, but are not indestructible
if you use locktite keep it on threads 1/2 way up thread, use the weaker stuff, you might want to take it off again
bolt on flywheel with 4 bolts equally spaced first. locktight and torque the other 4 , then remove and loktite and torque the original 4 the aim is to make sure no loktite gets between flyhweel and flange. if it does the flyhweel will not be mounted as well as it could be and may come loose
cab't think of anything else
but noting to stop you doing a standard ish rebuild and using a lot of your standard stuff
gland packing
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gland-packin ... 0160100508
spendy pistons
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wiseco-forge ... 2704787688
i found these pistons/rings to be excellent value the thin oil expander ring set for them are usually quite expensive
$111 ring set and $89 worth of pistons
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chrysler-Dod ... 1825630273
but obviously you need to know what over size you need first
they are magnum pistons, they fit but you need to check that the valves don't hit them. they are taller and have no valve reliefs cut. true flat top for about 10.5:1 static CR i.e potentially a CR hike of some margin
dave