So let's start Assembly

Since I'm not using a production stand, I put some old wheels on and mounted it all on my girlfriend's trainer. I suppose you could build a bike by leaning it against stuff but that's really a pain and kinda "hack-like". I tried to touch the paintwork as little as possible during assembly. At least build a PVC tire rack.The fork has to be on so I started with that. My frame came with an FSA headset installed. Here are the parts:

Once you are relatively sure you have the races, bearings, and shims in the correct order, grease and install them. Mine had some light grease already but I added some lithium. I think clean axle grease is fine too. The old German belief that good bearings should be run in oil may be true but not practical. On the road, grease will stay put and help repel debris. BTW, whose guns jammed in WWII due to ultra-precise tolerances? Not a dig - just rambling. As an aside, most of the vertical bearing load comes from the bottom set of bearings while lateral load is carried more by the upper set.
I just found a great tutorial on the Park Tool website that covers this all better than me. I'll keep typing just to entertain myself.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=65

The inner races were a slight friction fit in the neck. On a motorcycle and many bikes you must press them in. On older non-integrated headsets where the races are the chromed, visible type, I have used a block of wood and tapped them in. Too hard and you will deform the cup - not good. When in doubt use your LBS and ask if you can watch them do it. They do make presses for drawing the inner races into the stem squarely. They are expensive but cool looking. You could make one from "all-thread", nuts, and appropriately sized washers (fit the washers to inside of where the bearings ride not over the entire cup). But I digress......
Next, install the fork and top races, bearings, and spacers and put a wheel on the fork so you can stand up. Now the dog will be more likely to leave you alone and you will notice an immediate reduction in the dog hair to grease ratio. Add the spacer you bought or made and slide the stem on last. Don't tighten the stem pinch bolts yet just leave it loose.
You don't adjust these like the old 1" type but the concept is the same. Speaking of stems, why do we need 1 1/8" fork tubes and threadless headsets? Who was breaking those 1" alloy stems? I know the French ones had a rep but now I hear advice to occasionally replace even these new stems once every year or two as they develop stress fractures and can fail catastrophically. The best quote on that is, "The threadless headset was an answer to a question that was never asked." I would agree but I will pose with the rest of the lemmings this build.

Looking down the top of the fork tube you'll see the star nut. They must be installed on aftermarket stems. These are different for full carbon forks but this is what an alloy fork tube nut looks like. It is conical so it is pulled tighter by adjusting the stem cap. Install the stem cap. If the cap hits the fork tube before resting on top of the actual stem, your spacer is too short or you need to cut the tube. I don't know what manufacturers recommend but I would say you want the stem to overlap the fork tube by about 1/8" (visible in the star nut pic above). This gives you enough to preload the bearings. BTW, many aftermarket forks must be cut down. Determine where to cut after you have mocked the whole bike up. I've even seen people riding them with extended tubes - it won't hurt anything but your face or, in a head-on, your groin. This way you can play with adding/removing spacers before you determine where to cut it. You can cut alloy tubes with a hack saw. Take your time, cut it squarely, and debur the edges. Full carbon tubes require more care. Tape them first, then ............ just take them to the LBS once you've measured them.

Once you install the stem cap and bolt, you can tighten it to the point where the fork turns at it's easiest but where there is absolutely no play in the stem. This is where I have always cheated on a bike or motorcycle. While it isn't good to overtighten bearings in their races, I do tighten to the point of slight binding then give the fork a couple of turns to help kinda seat the bearings. I then release the bolt and do it the right way. Technically, this cheat should be unnecessary if we installed the races correctly but I still do it.
On threadless stems, the actual stem binding bolts secure the stem. Repeat: The cap nut is only to set the adjustment and the stem pinch bolts secure it. In other words, once adjusted, you could theoretically remove the cap and ride the bike. I wouldn't, as it sure is a nice backup, but if you get to that point, you are a hack anyway and should not be riding anything you assembled. Remember that when you are laying in the ditch and then promise to never again curse your LBS for trying to "rip you off." JMO