Small but important update.
I spent some time and loosened all the caps then started tightening them down until it bound up. Then I went and pulled each, one by one, and inspected. More than once I found this:
I'm sure that doesn't help.
So each one that looked like Godzilla and a hammer went at installing bearings was knocked back to smooth with 1000 grit on a flat surface. Then back through again to play the "which one is tight" game. Turns out #6 is the culprit, crank spins fine with all at 45 ft/lbs until #6. Not sure why but both bearings are .0010 oversized. I'm picking up some plastigauge and a new set of bearings today for peace of mind. Bad news is the passenger exhaust manifold is cracked almost all the way around. Now to try to find a replacement to keep this on budget or grab a set of Summit truck headers/ebay specials.