Another 302 Head Question

OP: Do you know what head gaskets are/were in there? Where were the leaks located? What thicker ones are you considering? A warped deck won't likely be fixed with just thicker head gaskets. Getting good, even compression across a head gasket won't be achieved with just a thickness change.

Are you going to 302 to compensate for the thicker head gaskets and try to keep the static CR the same? Your original heads were very likely 675's. The 302's are 5-6 cc's smaller in the chamber, and that increases your Static CR. Your cam is small and torquey and the higher SCR will help the low RPM torque more. Not any real chance that it is too high with stock 318 pistons.