Cutting holes for fenderwell headers, for me, is not a big deal; There are plenty of guys in the neighborhood, who can make those holes go away. Some can make them invisible under the paint.
Also, I would rather have the horsepower and torque those long tubes make, even on a smaller engine, than to suffer a 360 with whatever logs you can make fit . And this goes double and more, as you increase the cam size..... cuz
logs kill the overlap period, especially mini rear dumps, sized for 180hp engines. And it is the overlap period on a performance cam that is a serious power-adder.
That means that;
When you floor it, it ain't gonna matter much what your 360 dynoe'd at, the logs were made for 180 hp engine. On a 360 this will be about 295ft lbs@3200, which could be made with a 2bbl carb and a teener-cam.
Here's the math;
180hp x5250/3200rpm =295 ftlbs. It could be even less on a stout 360, say;
180hp x5250/2800rpm =338ftlbs.
And, as to the carb;
360cid x3200rpm/3450 x .75VE=250 cfm carb;
..... So,when you upcam, expecting 15/20 hp, and you only get 5, your
turns to
. ... WTH?.
So IMO;
there is no point to run any performance cam at all, nor a 4bbl;
Cuz the logs will be the choke.
Instead, I suggest tons of rear gear, and a very low-stall TC...... Jus IMO.
