How Much Can Heads Improve Compression???

hehehehe
Time marches on
nothing stays the same.
I would rather have lotsa-compression and a stock cam, than a factory 340 cam and pressure in the basement. Nothing wrong with a 318 cam that a nice set of valve springs, a 2800TC,a freeflowing exhaust, and 4.30s won't cure. Just cuz it makes peak power at 4500 to 4800, doesn't mean they can't rev to 5500 and beyond. 4.30s are nice cuz you can hit 60mph at 4800 at the top of second gear, just after the factory cam peaks. Two gears to 60,me likey.The 2800 will let the engine launch close to peak torque, and the tires even at the stock compression ratio, are gonna be begging for mercy.
The stock 318 torque at 2800 might be as much as 300ftlbs, so 300x2.45x4.30=3160ftlbs, multiply that by at least 1.2 for the TC hit at zero mph, and you have 3800ftlbs available to roast tires with. Heck you could leave the big-valve heads on and a big two barrel and still burn rubber.
But even if the torque is only 200ftlbs, the math still says 2500 tire-frying ftlbs at zero mph.
I'd rather have the hi-compression for a cruiser because it will get better fuel-mileage, and the low-rpm transition response will be much improved. At higher rpms lower compression doesn't hurt that much, but at low rpm lack of cylinder pressure takes all the fun out of a combo.
As long as it doesn't detonate. Cuz that can quickly ruin a good time. And if you have to burn best gas all the time, well then you trade off efficiency for dollars and end up at the same cost per evening of fun, so sometimes more is not better.