I was originally just looking for a fresh block, but when I tallied up the cost to do it myself or have it done.....have it done won out by a cosiderable margin.
I got it through CME Engines and they dyno'd it. It started out as one of their "crate engines, but I wanted just about everything changed, so it ended up being a custom deal. There were many problems along the way; finding a core that would pass magnaflux (went through 9 blocks), having 6 left pistons and 2 right straight from the manufacturer, they didn't like the adjusters on the rockers so they made new ones, went from 5/16" to 3/8" pushrods, got the wrong pushrod length, yadda, yadda, yadda. The end result is I'm glad I didn't have to deal with all the problems if I assembled it myself and I've got a nice baseline on their dyno which I wouldn't have if I did it myself. In going back and forth with them over all of the problems, even those guys were curious to see the numbers it would put down. I think everyone was pleasantly surprised!