Optimum setup for 302 heads
The reasoning for using the 1.6 exhaust valves on the street is really interesting - I hadn't considered the muffler restriction factor.
Read through the allpar info. I'm working on thinking "system" so everything works together. So it appears to me that since the optimum valve would be a smaller valve with mods (per BJR), the runners should be kept small in both the head and intake manifold to keep the velocity of the airflow up.
To me that would indicate, since this is going to be a a 268/276 duration cam with 0.477/0.480 lift specs, that regardless of the carb cfm used, something like the Edelbrock Performer or LD4B intake matched to 318 gaskets instead of 360 gaskets would be the best setup.
Man, that goes absolutely contrary to the "bigger is better" attitude that I'm prone to go with!