Today, dollar for dollar, is the 318 faster than the 340 ???

How much of that stuff did you get second hand, from a deal, have already, traded for, robbed off anther car ........
Take that $1550 you saved and you could go find a $400 340 that needed one sleeve and spend $150 on that and you could have bought those cheaper 340 pistons. You still have $1000 for a Pentastar shaped air cleaner and a foot print gas pedal.
730 aluminum the pair of heads brand new fully loaded shipped to my door. 400 bucks for the short block 360, including cam/lifters. 2nd hand RPM intake for fair market value (can't remember, but maybe 150 ??), 750 DP 2nd hand, maybe 150 ??