Since you mentioned going the 390/445 route, I get the feeling you are familiar with what Barry Rabotnick has to offer at Survival Motorsports, and that his book is one of the ones you have ordered. Just haven’t seen him mentioned specifically so far, so I thought I would throw his name and what he has to offer into the mix just in case. In addition to stroker kits, he is developing his own heads for the FE.
You may already be doing this as well, but being in NC, right there in the heart of NASCAR country, I can’t help but think there are some local FE builders around who would be a wealth of knowledge. Although probably considered “old timers” now, they probably would be more than willing to pass their FE knowledge along to someone still interested in doing most of their own work. Ask around at local car shows, too. At a very small car show, I ran across someone with two Mercury Comet Cyclones there and another one that is a work in progress who highly recommended the builder of his 390s, and told me who to stay away from. As meticulous as this fellow was with his Cyclones (down to custom making the sticker on the AC compressor on one of them), I think if he had had any reservations about the builder, he would have let me know.
Here is a link to an article in Car Craft from a few years back…just something to gnaw on while you wait for the books to come in.
Ford 390 FE - Car Craft Magazine