You should check the serial # on that engine. Usually it's the 7.3 that gets sleeved on one side as part of a reman. The 6.9 can be safely bored and the 7.3 usually can't.
Ouch! Poor engine.... May it rest in pieces... er peace.
Depending on who the mass engine re-builder is, usually they try to do things as cheaply as possible to have the highest return. I suppose if the price on the reman engine is vastly different from another source, I would start to wonder. Also, any rebuilder that doesn't answer questions on how he does things should also be suspect.....
So, who was this place that used this method of sleeving? Was it a big company or a localized outfit?