Sounds like you're doing fine. $1010 is reasonable, it's about $200 less than I get, but I do a more thourough sonic test and I include the cost of the studs...lol. Sounds good to me.
The only options I would get are the chamfered bearings (make sure whoever assembles mocks up all 8 rods and checks for tight bearings at the chamfers). Also, decide on heads before you order the kit. Use flat tops for iron heads, and the 17cc dishes for aluminum heads.
I dont like Brandon's balancing. I would prefer my shop does it themselves. Make sure you get the B engine crank. Otherwise the counterweights will need trimming to fit. Also, make sure the shop measures all the journals on the crank, and cycles the rod bolts with ARP lube, then checks the rod big ends for size. Just mic'ing them out of the box isnt enough. And the pin ends wil need to be honed for the pins to fit properly. (and it should not involve emery cloth or sand paper, contrary to the instructions.)
For heads, You could use your iron heads. Any 906/452/346/902 would work fine with falt tops for a nice 9.7-10:1 engine. As for aftermarket, the MP Edelbrock styled heads would be nice, but cost more than the angled plug Edelbrock RPMS. IN any case, the iron heads should be fitted with 2.18/1.81 valves adn have a good performance rebuild. (the $500 ones for sale "done" should be avoided...) The new aluminums should be taken apart and the valve jobs checked and corrected if needed. Teh supplied srpings on the Edelbrocks should be fine for most cam choices too. I'dd run the RPMs myseld. But the MPs mean your existing exhaust headers will fit no problem. You may need to ding a tube to get the plug wires clear on the Edelbrocks.
