At this point I say take the engine out of the car, disassemble it and see where the problem really is.
If you have been fighting the same problem for two years there's something basically wrong with the engine. Could be a piston, bearing or wristpin. Could be something else like a pushrod banging on a cylinder head.
I am frankly not trusting your diagnoses. This isn't a knock on you. You are much too close to the problem and IMHO have become part of it. It's human nature. I've done some classic booboos by getting wrapped so tight around a problem that I can't see that one or more of my basic assumptions has been incorrect.
Another problem is that you "jump on your horse and ride off in all different directions." Again, too close to the problem.
Again, this isn't a knock on you. Look at it from the outside. An engine with 10.7:1 compresion and aluminum heads should be driveable with intake duration 230 degrees @ 50 lift. But it knocked with a bigger camshaft, the MP .509. This cam has way too much duration for the lift, so by its very nature it shouldn't be detonation prone. Now you have added another say 15 or so degrees @ 50 lift. But you still get detonation. You check the ignition timing, seems to be in the ballpark. Change carbs in order to catch out a perhaps lean at part throttle problem, doesn't help. THEN you up the octane to way above what the engine should require AND IT STILL KNOCKS!
Something is really wrong. You may be misinterpreting the sounds. You may have the head gasket problem. You may have a broken piston, a wristpin on the way out, etc. etc. etc.
It's pretty obvious to me that doing anything more to the outside of the engine isn't going to make things any better.
TIME TO EXCAVATE!
R.
PS: I am really interested in seeing you find and fix the problem. You have worked so hard on this. I am concerned that whatever it is, will damage the engine further if you continue to run it.
