I went to school and got fully certified as a machinist and as luck would have it there is a place that I might begin working at soon that will machine some stuff that I think is pretty cool. Some of the items machined there are likely to be heads (to be ported) and engine blocks. For conventional machining I am pretty set. I mean I have a ton to learn, but I know speeds, feeds and can select proper tooling for the job at hand.

However I don't know what I need to learn to do some of the automotive stuff like honing and head porting. What is some of the specialized tooling that is used? How do speeds and feeds and depths of cut relate to conventional milling? I looked in my machining text book but sadly it said almost nothing about what I needed to know.

Take a look at NCCS, they are doing things similar to what you wish to do.
The answers are here

http://www.nccs.com/pages/Products_main.html

Check out http://www.rottlermfg.com/
Most automotive machining is done on dedicated machines. You use a machine called a boring bar (and yes it uses a boring bar also) to cut the cylinder, a deck mill to cut the head surfaces, ect. Sunnen is another one to get farmiliar with, you will find thier equiptment in every engine shop around. They make a lot of honing and inspection equiptment.

Also try to get a copy of a book called "Sunnen's Complete Cylinder Head and Engine Rebuilding Handbook". It's kinda like Machinery Handbook, just directed specifically at engine machining. Probably the best reading around for a beginner.

Good Luck!