I have been pulling your leg about the 360 but is there any chance that someone in your area would have a running 360 (4 barrel) for sale? Not a screaming flat out race engine but just a standard running 360 that's in good shape. First off you get the longer stroke of a 360 in which in turn comes low end torque (no low RPM bog there) Second by the time you spend the money (add all that up and set it on the left) on what you're trying to do you could have bought a running 360 (find a engine add that up and set it on the right and make a comparison) Maybe even come out with a bunch of money left in you pocket with about the same or even more HP/TQ.
Just imagine your 360 that's in your truck running/installed in you cuda. I bet it would put a smile on your face if you smashed it to the floor wouldn't it?
If for instance you find a 360 you could just clean it up, paint it, find the correct motor mounts, etc... and drop it in.
I'm just throwing this out there since the 318 build seems to be getting pretty damn expensive.