He'll need a reduced base circle cam to use the O.E roller lifters. They're too tall to use with a std base circle cam in the stock lifter bores.

 

I'll throw my 2 cents in here. Been fooling with these 351C's on an off for 25 years. I'm assuming you have 66cc heads and stock deck. As far as cast pistons go Sealed Power H555CP-.030 will be around .060 down in the hole and will be around 9.1 to 9.3-1 compression, KB177-.030 pistons will be around .007 to .009 down in the hole and will be around 10.1 to 10.3-1 compression depending on the head gasket you use. Both of these pistons are flat tops. The sealed powers weigh close to the stock ford flat top and shouldn't require rebalancing the KB's are lighter and will require the rotating assembly to be rebalanced.
As far as valve train components I don't use anything Comp makes anymore, too much made in China junk. Just my opinion.
If you use the Sealed Power pistons you can close your intake valve around 62 degrees and be fine on 91 oct. With the Keith Blacks you need to be around 67- 70 degrees. Just try to keep your dynamic compression under 8 to 1 if you want to burn pump gas.
As far as a particular cam recommendation you need to nail down what your static compression is going to be and what rpm you want to operate at then call a cam manufactures tech line. Those guys have all the calculators right at their finger tips and will give good advice. The last two engines I put together I used Howards Cams with good results the plus was I didn't have to wait an hour for someone to answer the call.

 

So all stock 302's and 351W's have a reduced base circle cam?

My nephew spec'd the cam and had Erson grind it, I'll have to ask him about the base circle and specs.

 

No, the roller 302's and 351W's have taller lifter bores, the Clevelands never had this feature, so to drop the O.E lifter low enough in the bore for it to work in a Cleveland you need a reduced base circle cam.

 

Last thing you want is a piston that's .060 down the hole at TDC. It'll ping like crazy. 10 to 1 ratio ? You'll be able to run on 91-93 octane. Maybe less depending on the cam.

 

They don't ping at .060 down. I've been running them in my 65 with 91 oct. In fact if you choose the right cam you could run 11-1 compression and pump gas. All that said I do have real world experience with those Sealed Powers and they are a good choice for a budget build. But like I said you need a cam that closes that intake soon enough to keep the dynamic up around 7.7-1.

 

If those pistons were closer to the deck, you could still run it on 91. Try it on 87 with the piston .060 down the hole. At 9 to 1 it should run on 87 if the piston wasn't that far down. No reason you can't run 11 to 1 on pump gas. But that pump gas will be 93 octane. I'm running 10.4 to 1 on 92 octane in a 331.