The engine had allways been unrated in a big way and seen as simply a people mover and never anything more than a people mover. It doesn't help that most people jump into a teen with 340 parts and expect it to go fast. Proper combonation and parts selection is needed for any engine, even more so with a 318.
Think about this. If a Ford 302 or a Chevy 327 can get out there and compete, why can't a 318? While bigger is allways easier and better to make power with, it's not allways the cheapest route to enjoy a car with. I can see spending another $200 or $300 on a 360 or $700 on a 340 when you allready have an engine waiting right there for ya.
It's so easy to sit behind a computer and say "Get a bigger engine" "Go big block" "You should have done this, got that, changed this"
For the purchase price of the bigger engine, I can have the block done and ready to go.
Theres allways someone ready to argue and be an *** over what you build, point out sometihng in the favor of bigger engine. Theres never a shortage of ***' and on line has a ton of them.