1974 318 duster. Can I port/polish these heads and get enough power out of them?

I'm kinda in agreement. Every single time without fail when I've gone up in header tube size and or exhaust pipe size, I've always gained more power. With no exception.
Way back when, I put a set of Mickey THompson Try Y's on my 340 in my 73 Challenger and off to the strip I went. With no further tuning or modifications it went slower by a few hundredths. The stock manifolds and exhaust must have been pretty good back them. Good thing I kept all the old parts to put back on. A awful lot of work for no gain.