OP, can you remind us what pistons you have now? Did I see where you have had them pressed on the rods already? The 318's have the problem of low CR to start, and you are making that lower with 360 heads. Refer to the 1st paragraph of where you are heading in post #333. Not a good grocery-getter CR..... it is going to be low if this is the combination it sounds like. Get some piston info out here so we can compute that CR.
BTW, take your cam and oil the cam bearings in the block and the cam journals, and carefully slip the cam in place. See if it goes in easily, and rotates easily. Just looking for cam bearings being mis-aligned, or anything warped in the block. Check all the cam bearing holes being aligned with the holes in the block, including the ones on the #2 and #4 cam bearing going upwards.
