So..... you’re building an engine specifically to use in an engine dyno competition ....... and just throw any old head on it because you have them kicking around.
Yeh, I believe that.
If they didn’t feel those heads were fully up to the job...... they would have used something else.
They coulda/woulda/shoulda used other heads..... blah blah blah.
The bottom line is...... the heads they actually used would have had a ton of work done to them, and would have flowed very very well for their port cross section and runner volume(ss rules).
Imo, they would have had a pretty high impact on that overall package, and that just replacing them with some typical ported EQ Head would have almost certainly resulted in less power on that particular combo.
I feel they were a key component of the success of that package.
The person the engine builder contacted about heads was Randy Malik, who has been entering those EM contests since the beginning, often doing pretty well.
So, I’d expect him to have a good handle on what it would take for cylinder heads on the 318 build to be competitive.
I doubt he would have recommended that particular pair of heads unless he felt they would have been a good fit with the rest of the combo.