340 General Rebuild Info- Cam Recommendations

Guys, ALL great responses, just what I was looking for....little bits of goodness.
The head info was new to me, I can check for casting numbers to confirm, but suspect that the 71 should have the bigger valves....BUTT, confirm confirm confirm!
Lifters: yah that is a crazy subject!!! I guess the idea of just tossing out the old and tossing in the new is sort of old hat now! SO, who's got a lifter crowning setup???? :)

The idea of cruising into this vs tossing stuff at it......that always makes sense and I try to preach the same things with guys that I know, including my son, who simply wants to toss stuff at a project rather than work a little bit...... The magazines also preach one thing at a time...vs change everything and then wonder why you lost 75 HP....(!)....or "now it runs like a dog...."!

CA Smog: THANKFULLY, that only kicks in at 1975. I have a 1974 vehicle that THANKFULLY does not reward me every two years with the "SMOG CHECK REQUIRED" notice in my renewal regs!!! Let the horses run!!!!

The notes on the heads (x & j) and valves is great! I understand the need for headers at some point but depending on the actual design, they may not really contribute all that much to the street game....maybe 10-20HP or some more torque.....but below 5K rpm's they are fine! What I would do, which is what some of the sneaky Ford guys are doing, is using 351W exhaust manifolds which are port matched to ported exhaust ports AND either extrude honed to finish off the insides of the manifolds, or they are simply ported further into the manifold to allow for more flow! Ford SB's typically have a TINY exhaust port that begs for a roto-grinder to be applied! That and a better cam is much more fun! I always ran headers on my 351W but had to weld up the chassis once for ripping the power steering ram out of the frame due to header clearance, multiple exhaust leaks with long tube, short tube...didn't make a difference..... They all REALLY needed a "ball joint" at the header to pipes flange....but never quite go there before son grabbed the car from me....! But still a pain in the BUTT! Peeling paint.....burnt wires.....pffft pffft pffft again.....! Manifolds would be quiet!!!!

IF and that is a BIG if.....I was gonna do anything based upon what I learned with my (fun driver!) 331, is basics. Goal of 300HP+ at rear wheels, which I think is doable with stock basic parts..just a bigger cam and port cleanups...but this is a what if.... Alloy heads, to allow up to a mechanical 10.5:1 CR, with nothing larger than a 2.02 intake 1.6 exhaust, RPM or Air Gap intake, 600-630 Vac Secondary carb (or original!), solid state ignition of some OEM sort (hate Mallory and MSD....seen too many buddies on side of road....) and a cam with no more than a .530 lift, pattern to match what guys have seen work..... 110 separation angle would have good vacuum and smooth idle, although I do not have a brake booster on the car with front discs........ (Not sure how these came to be as they are not on the build tag....) and it is a manual trans car so "could" push that number down to 108 and not feel to bad about it.

I've enjoyed watching "some" episodes of Engine Masters when basics are put to the test..... Engines are simply an air pump and no matter the OEM version, they all answer to the same laws of physics! HP engine building class drilled that into me!!! Take one if you can get it at a local JC etc! Good basic info!

Cheers and thanks again! Much to digest and go check out! Now to get that danged messed up clutch out.......!!!! Priorities priorities......too many ground squirrels, gophers, and trees......ugh!

Steve