Nothing really special you need besides a good tool set with a variety of sockets....but you will need a torque wrench.
I stored all my parts on a shelf in my gargage....everything was plastic wrapped in saran wrap and I didnt' open anything until I needed it. Now my engine is on a engine stand with a couple of garbage bags covering it.
First thing I would do though is buy yourself a good book on rebuilding it. They make some really nice how to rebuild a small block chevy books. (go with one of those instead of a factory manual)
For painting the block it's pretty simple. Any good machine shop will not let you bore the block over until they boil it clean so they can magnaflux it. Once it's boiled the block it ready to paint. Go to your local wal-mart and they should have some paint in the automotive section called engine enamel (it's good up to 500F) that paint is some tuff stuff.... But you just can't start spraying your block with paint.....get a roll of some good quality 3m masking tape and start masking off every area that you don't want to get paint. Then just start spraying....one can is enough to do a whole small block chevy...if you want to see how good this paint works look at the thread about my mustang
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=26985 I think you will like the results