The BEST advice I can give is don't waste one single second on an OE block. Find an aftermarket block. There is no reason to start with a block that is 50 years or more old. What a waste.

Everything else you want to do is relatively simple. The correct heads. The correct compression ratio (IMO anything lower than 10.5:1 is a waste and you can go more if you're careful about cam selection and tune up...if you want an off the shelf cam ignore my compression ratio advice). The correct gear ratio (most guys don't run enough gear). The correct torque converter (most guys don't run near enough stall and the car is miserable because of it, and then they go back and try and band aid it with a smaller cam etc all for not).

Get the basics correct and the rest is like falling off a log.