You could always buy a new USDM ITR head. They're roughly $1400 and you get everything except the valve cover, vtec solenoid and distributor. You'll have a valvetrain designed to buzz 8500 rpm and ITR cams to boot. If you're buying a GSR head for $1000, you're not getting the ITR cams and the sucker is used---no telling what condition the camshaft journals/housing are in.

As for reliability, a block girdle and ARP rod bolts should suffice. If you want to go all out and save some wear on the cylinders (due to low r/s ratio), lightened rods and pistons would go a long way.

I dunno why people complain about weak rods. I've seen a rod TWISTED around three times by sticking it in a table vice and twisting the small end with a breaker bar. It didn't snap. It's the bolts that would give before the rod. I'm pretty sure all the rods I've seen give were a result of a rod bolt breaking or a piston siezing. This rant is already too long...i'm stopping.

 

Mind you, when force is applied slowly to an object, it will react differently then if the force is applied very rapidly. The rod may bend if twisted slowly, but if the force was applied equal to three complete twists in, say, 1/2 second, it would probably snap right off.