Good mods to make torque in a 440

Personally I'd rather have compression and run the closed chamber heads. Others here may argue that. 516s suffer from a small exhaust valve and poorer port design. So upgrading to the 1.74 exhaust valve, back cutting the 2.08 intake valve, and a 5 angle valve job with some bowl work will go a very long way if you have to have them redone anyway. After that, run the thinnest head gasket you can find, and a cam in the 220-225° @ .050 or so and a 112° or more LSA and you'll do fine.