To be honest, spend it on replacing any maintinence items on the block while its apart. Use quality components instead of budget ones, and clean and prep thoroughly. $1500 sounds rather cheap for a quality rebuild by someone who knows what they are doing... Keep in mind that the extra $ to do it right the first time outweighs rebuilding the block again in 60k.
I don't think he could get a 207 for his budget and still be able to replace maintinence items like the water pump, timing belt, etc... Like he should.