advice on heads

My cost on Edelbrocks is about $1600 depending on which part # you get, they need about $250 prep work before instillation unless you like to gamble on them being set up correctly...less than 50% are from my experience. Even with the various "discounts" that surface form time to time, 30% off $1800 is still $1200 and you get the $600 discount in the form of a gift certificate, so its not really paying $1200 cash. If you throw in the prep/check out cost of $250(average) and add it to the additional $250 over EQ you are looking at $1100 more but you get to pick out $600 in parts from AZ or whoever has coupon. Doesnt even sound comparable to me. The "power potential" of Eds over EQ's is in the range of 40HP but that is only with massive cnc porting that would do OP no good. The EQ's will easily make 400+HP OOTB and I have seen 575+ with EQ, possibly 600, and that was on a stroked 5.2! The OP will not see 400 HP with the cam he has but should be a strong 350+ HP. The 1.6 ratio rockers on the Magnum will help the 268.
That is all good info. BTW, we paid $110 for the check on the Edlebrocks and that included undercutting the seats with a Serdi machine for a better valve to port transition. So that cost obviously varies quite a bit from what you state. The only issue with the guides was small bronze burrs in 4 of 16 guides; otherwise, they were good to go.

The Edelbrock price is in the $800 range per head, not $900, so you're off by a couple hundred $$. But you are right on the rest coming as a gift card. I know I can spend $500-600 in the regular course of work and car car; I run 2 diesel pickups with 12 and 15 qt oil changes every 3000-4000 miles. So YMMV on that part for sure.

Thanks for the notes in the HP capability; that is good to know. And you are right on the rocker ratio, but either Magnum will end up there.