You mentioned a tunnel ram. Run it if you got it.

Are any of your cylinder head choices "ready to run" ie milled, bigger valves etc? 516's will help with compression but if they need any work you might be better off shopping for a set of used Stealths or RPM's. You can pretty much guarantee 47 yr old heads are going to need valves and guides at the very least plus the machine work and valve job so you are right there money wise.

Kevin