Drew,
Getting 10-11 mpg on the freeway (90%) of my miles.  Work commute is 8-9 mpg ( half of that is stop/go and half is crawling on the rush hour freeway.  Towing the camper is 6.5 mpg.  My stock 390 used to get 11-12 freeway and 8 towing if I stayed below 65, but 7 if I went above 65.

There is some "low hanging fruit" to pluck.  Been thinking like what JamesonRacing mentioned of changing the rear or adding an overdrive.  At 65mph I'm spinning 3000 rpms.  This engine could keep me moving at 65 with 2000 rpms when empty and 2500ish rpms when towing.  With 590 lb ft at 2500 it wouldn't be lugging too bad.  Might squeeze a little more mpg with some carb tuning and a vacuum dizzy, but really like the all around drive ability of Brent's starting point carb tune and non-vacuum dizzy.

JamesonRacing,
My only hesitation with changing the rear end is that I like my slow 1st and reverse for parking the camper and crawling in the field with loads of firewood.  Do you ever find yourself wishing 1st was synchronized...for instance when slowing down for a turn with the trailer is 2nd gear a little too fast?  I can only get into 1st from a stop.  I've looked at several trannies.  I haven't seen any that have a wide enough ratio so I'm thinking about a gear vendor overdrive.  Not sure I want to spend $3k though.  If lightning hit my wife's diesel I might be more motivated.  For out of state trips with the family, I can see this engine going into a rust free dually that's just old enough to be exempt from emissions testing.  I like the idea of a simple, yet strong motor when away from home.

Seems like when a new engine build first hits the dyno there's enthusiasm but then rarely is there any follow up on how a build worked for its intended purpose.  So here's just a few follow up comments after a year's worth of use (about 6,000 miles) with my 482 built by Brent.

In a nutshell, this build does exactly what I wanted.  I dropped this engine into my '65 F250.  Power band works well with my gearing (NP435 tranny and 4.10 rear).   It's  very capable idling/parking my 10,000 lb camper, merging onto freeway, and taking hills on the interstate with my camper.  I run it fairly fast and steady for a truck (3000ish rpms) on the freeway and it runs smooth.  I believe it has enough guts down low that I could swap in an over drive and pull my camper 70mph at around 2500 rpms.  It's a nice, strong truck-like build that I can see working well in something newer than my '65...especially for someone wanting something ugly strong and fairly simple to maintain and keep on the road. 

Chased an intermittent "valve noise" for a couple years that would come and go without reason.  Turned out to be the oil splash shield in the lifter valley rubbing a push rod...duh !  A little re-shaping of the splash shield fixed it.

 See if this link works...if not, just check the "FE engine dyno results" page on this forum.  It's about the 4th one down.
  http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=2809.0

Hello Vintageironlover,

I have a BBM based engine that I like.  Since you're a smidge off topic from the OP's 390 build in this thread, if you start a new thread I'd be happy to answer your questions from the perspective of someone who has installed and put some miles on a BBM block.  For questions about the inside of these blocks I'll defer to the guys who build these everyday.

I agree that boost is not necessary with 4 corner drum brakes...that's what my '65 F250 has and I've loaded it to just over 8,000 lbs gross.  Drums will start feeling squirrelly if you touch them around 90mph though...should you go crazy in that F1.  However, since you have discs on the front and I'm guessing a proportion valve you may want to boost them.  Discs don't have the benefit of "self boosting" like drum brakes do.  Hopefully this link works to explain "self boost".

http://www.hemmings.com/hmn/stories/2013/09/01/hmn_feature19.html

Adam,
  To answer your question about jumping at idle, it's actually pretty smooth..no bumping or chugging.  I have it idling at 900 which is faster than the factory spec'd FE for this truck (600 rpm).  This engine is kind of weak at 600 and I like a little more oil movement anyway.  When backing the camper I let the clutch all the way out and take my foot off of it without giving it throttle because the idle rpm barely changes.  This engine moves the load real smooth like a tractor.   I only used the camper example to illustrate this engines strength at idle.  BTW, I would not idle through town with that much weight.  I like to keep it at 2000ish to splash oil and move water.  Hope this helps answer your question about idle with 482cubes that makes over 500hp.
   As example on the far end of the torque range is my wife's 1st generation Duramax.  It's a monster from idle up to 3000 rpms but falls on it's face at 3100.  The torque curve from GM shows that and you feel it in the truck...guessing you don't want that in a cobra.