IIIRII

From what you have said.
Re torqueing the bearings is a waste of time.
Is the crank straight ?
Its common for cranks to have a bend which you effectively pull straight by doing up the mains caps.
It must be checked between centres using a dti.
Even plasigauge will lie to you if the crank is bent any amount.
If it has any bend at all regind it.
Line honing the crank journels in the block isnt a bad idea , but I think its more likely in the crank.
You should be able to fit bearings to block, drop in crank and torque up mains caps./ use lots of assembly oil.
The crank should still be very easy to turn.
It should easily rotake using the main pulley as a lever.
no amount of undoing and retorquing will put it right if it isnt straight.

make sure when you fit the rings they are gapped right and champer the outside edge of the gap.(with a stone)
Fit the pistons & oil generously and fit in bore.
Lube and fit big ends torque up rod bolts.
It should still be easy to rotate but you will find the drag from the rings is making it feel tight.
But it should still rotate easy using the crank pulley as a handle/lever
If you have to put any kind of bar on the crank pulley to turn it , its too tight.

Put the head on and time the cams

It should be starting to get hard to turn as you are now trying to open valves etc: but should still turn with no plugs in it reasonably easily.

Dunno , let us know when you sort it.