this, 100% this.
as soon as machine and port work enters the equation it's immediately out of reach for most people's budget.
I'm all for blueprinting a 318, heck even with some cheapy aftermarket slugs. throw the best 318 heads mopar offered on there and whichever 2V cam, carb and intake shows the most promise and have at it. degree the cam, port match the intakes, replace the springs, give the valves a good 3 angle, run thinner head gaskets to bump the compression-- all the stuff that's cheap and doable on a backyard beer budget with common tools and know how.
run it on the dyno thru manifolds and see what it does. then snap on a set of headers and repeat. then plop on a $100 swap meet manifold and a 4bbl of choice and see what happens. icing on the cake, buy the cheapest summit +1 cam and see what that does.
that's all practical stuff that somebody just getting into the hobby would do. it's cheap, it's readily available and it's all doable without spending an arm and a leg.
once you start machine work and porting, you're just putting a monocle and top hat on a chicken and calling it a duck.