Making power out of the 318

Not to say a 273 will make more power, and they can depending on the builds, I just like them better. I used to be the king of cheap. To get a cheap engine that revs, I would get the best factory heads and run them on the smallest engine. That way, you don't need a cam to really make an engine run. It works on a Chevrolet and Ford as well, maybe with the exception of a Boss 302. Those heads were too much. I just don't like the 360 and it's longer stroke, I prefer any of the small blocks better. Plus I always had the advantage of running a 4 speed and an 8 3/4 with different pumpkins in an early A Body. With the limitations I put on myself It all works out fine. I have built plenty of 360's for others, just not my cup of tea. By the time I go bigger than a 340, I'm into big blocks.
I like your builds and perspective, people forget the 340 head was designed to work well on a mild 340, a 1.88 valved 360 is fairly under headed, makes sense that there gonna be a great performance upgrade to a 273/318. An Edelbrock head on a 360 is a similar cfm to cid as a stock headed 273 and 340 as would an 1.88 valved J head on a 318 would also have a similar ratio.