People don't bother with #8 heads that much simply because most of these people you're reading about are building higher performance engines than what you're wanting and #8 heads aren't the way to go for high CR builds. Now if you're wanting a mild 9:1ish CR street cruiser 350 with enough ***** to be fun with using cheap easily available forged flat top pistons, the #8 heads seem to be the way to go.

I'm not trying to tell you you have to use #8 heads. I'm just trying to inform you that with what all you stated about your goals, they would be the simplest course of action to go. Call one of the Olds builders and ask how much it would cost for a 'bowl hog' on the exhaust side. It's not that much and with that done they should flow just as good as earlier 350 heads. They just have a bigger chamber, which is good if you use flat tops.