300k 5.4 ready for a rebuild
 

Well my 5.4 has just about 300k on it and its been feeling gutless burning alot of oil and shes starting to knock. Time to park it...Im going to order a master rebuild kit from flatlander racing (any reviews on them?). Im going to get a cam from comp cams. One of there xtreme energy cams thats good for street use. Also going to get there bee hive springs and retainers. Now here is where i need some help. What all should i have the machine shop do? Bore cylinders just enough to clean them up of course but what else? Ive rebuilt plenty of small engines and have done some motor swaps but im new to what to have the machine shop to do my heads and block. Leak tests and such? Any kind of clean up they can do do a dirty block? Thanks alot for any help and sorry for sounding a bit lacking in knowledge of machining services

Not sure if you're trying to keep to a budget but have you considered buying a reman'd long block from Ford or Jasper etc?

Typically those run about $2700 with a warranty or guarantee, nationwide at that.

i am trying to stay on some what of a budget. but i also want to do everything right. so if the cost to have all the machine work done plus buy parts is more or close to that i would deffinitly consider.

I don't know how much the machine work and parts would cost so can't really compare those----I'm thinking more the convenience of an "easy" swap in shorter time.