I have a 31 in the Bronco and a stroked 5.0 in a Ranger. Like what you are doing now I researched the stroker a LOT before building mine.
The 5.0 just doesn't have enough deck height to properly use the 347 stroker kit. The rod is too short and then the wrist pin is up in the oil rings. They are well known as 30k mile engine and then they start smoking oil through the rings. The "cure" is an even shorter rod. So I did a 330" stroker. Mine is a hair smaller as it only needed .020 overbore. I wanted as much meat on the bores as possible. I stick to the .030 as the max on a performance engine. Beyond that then it gets hit and miss on if it will work good. Blocks are not that rare or expensive. When I dropped mine off at the machine shop I told them start with a clean, inspect, check the main and cam bores. If those are not straight, stop there and call me. I will find a better starting block.
As for stroker kits, I liked Eagle. I went to SEMA and talked to both Eagle and Scat. Eagle was more inteligent and not full of marketing crap. Eagle talked me down from an H-beam to an I-beam rod when I discussed my HP levels. Lighter rod will make for a more efficient engine. But Eagle wasn't perfect. They sent the wrong crank with the kit (no problems exchanging it). Also got a piston with a ding in it. Took care of that as well. So I have had to deal with customer service and it was good. Ad oddity is the pilot bore at the back of the crank was a little shallow in the bore back when I did mine. Not sure if they corrected that by now or not.
After all that, I like my 351 better.
