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The main goal for the rebuild is to have an engine that will be useable on the street, powerful, inexpensive, and reliable. Those four characteristics can be somewhat exlcusive, and having all four at once is a challenge.
The first priority is good street manners. The main reason I disassembled the engine in the first place was because it was acting up; it still started and ran though. Therefore, I want the rebuilt engine to start with the first turn of the key every time, in any condition (except extreme cold perhaps). A smooth idle is also important. It might be cool to have a lopey idle, but I can see myself getting annoyed with it over time, and I'm sure any passenger that is not overly into cars would get sick of it as well.
Since high peak power can take away from reliability and street manners, it is a secondary goal. Having said that, I wouldn't be bothering with the engine rebuild (or the entire car for that matter) if it weren't for the performance potential of a small block. Power will be made by using parts that improve the engine's efficiency, as opposed to a brute-force approach such as big porting jobs, huge cams, and so forth. To stick with the streetability goal, power will be made with modernization instead.
To keep costs down, any stock part of the engine which is capable of working at high power levels will be re-used, provided rebuilding it is cost-effective.
The engine must also be reliable. It can be stressful to drive in a car which seems like it is on the edge of failure all of the time. This is especially true on long drives, in bad weather, or when in remote areas. The engine has to run like a Swiss watch.
Next: Machine Work
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