Practically Clueless Newbie Needs Help Getting His Dart Up and Running

The Mopar Performance 6-cylinder book is full of errors and badly outdated info/advice. Not worthwhile. Get the books described in this thread quick as you can. And yes, with a badly neglected car on top of internal damage, a full rebuild is the way to go, complete with all the parts cleanup, measurement, reconditioning and resizing as necessary, etc.

There are engine-build threads over at www.slantsix.org , too.