so the engine is together and running, and I think I discovered something interesting about the lifters...specifically regarding oil. I fired up the engine with 10W40 break-in oil, but I noticed what sounded like excessive valvetrain 'chatter', and I thought 'on no - seems I was unlucky reusing the lifters. Pulled the valve cover and all rockers were tight. Long story short, I remembered reading about how picky the Hemi's can be with their oil, so I drained the 10W40 and put in regular 10W30, which is spec per the manual....and I have to say the engine is indeed quieter. It may indeed be likely that the slightly thicker oil was preventing the lifters from getting full prime, or it may have simply been that the extra break-in lube and such was also preventing the oil from getting fully 'into' the lifters...but either way I'll be sticking with 10W30 from now on.