I strongly disagree.
Firstly you mightta missed the part about limited budget, but more importantly;
A high compression street SBM even with a 2bbl and most especially with the factory 2bbl cam, is, or rather, can be a dynomite combo when supporting mods are thrown in..... especially with hi-way gears.
The stock cam only pulls to about 4500.Altho it will willingly rev MUCH higher with supporting mods. And the 2bbl is just running out of capacity at about that time. The 2bbl does not prevent the engine from reving any higher, it just won't make optimum power up there is all. With 2.76s hitting 4500 at about 50 mph, this is no big deal. And guess what, at peak torque she will be sitting at right about 26mph. Tm is; 2.45(first gear) x 2.76=6.76. This is almost exactly like 1.45(second gear) x 4.56=6.61. The engine doesn't care how it gets TM. Light 'em up OP!
I have build combos like this. The key is in the compression and in the hiway gears. And so is the fuel-economy. Even a 340 running all the 318 stuff, is pretty impressive, with hiway gears keeping the revs down.
AJ's opinion
No you won't win any races, but that is not on OPs to-do list.
BTW
A 318 with the stock cam at 9.2 Scr is about 162 psi@137VP ( about the max you can run with that cam), compared to a fresh 360 at 8.0 with it's stock cam, making 130psi@118VP, both at 1000 ft...... I know which one I would want, hands down!