I'm in the middle of a very similar effort. My 283 is a bit newer, but my goal is very close to yours. One of the things you should absolutely consider doing is adding roller rockers, lifters, and a matching cam. All this is internal and will not change the outside appearance at all. You can wake up that 283 with just these items:
Comp Cam Ultra-Gold Aluminum Rockers $310 per set. Don't use a different geometry rocker, like a 1.6 ratio as it will require you to machine the slots in the heads or even drill them slots out and add guides. The stock 1.5 ratio is fine and going to 1.6 won't add much other than hassle (I know this from experience this week
)
Next go with the roller lifters as well from Comp Cam part 853-16. $483 for the set.
Then go with the following cam:
Edelbrock 2208 $370
Rollin' Thunder Hydraulic Roller Camshaft
1957-86 Chevy 265-350
.462''/.479'' Lift
280°/290° Adv. Duration
Idle-5500 RPM Range
When you have the heads done you might have the machine shop check and see if port matching the intake with the heads will help. Basically they make sure the intake holes going into the heads are closely matched so as not to have any obstructions.
Go ahead and punch it out .060 over. It can easily take that. Personally I would go for Keith Black Hypereutectic performance pistons.
The 3 angle valve machining mentioned earlier is a great idea.
Don't forget the exhaust. I know you don't want to change the appearance so you will stay with the original stock headers, but think about improving the rest of the exhaust with crossover pipe and have it all done with a good exhaust shop that knows something about this often overlooked part of the engine performance.
Try to keep your compression between 9-9.1 as you would not want to go higher with those cast iron heads on todays' poodle pee gas. Summit racing has a nice calculator on their website. You should really check this out because you will be able to trim as much off the heads as possible (which will reduce chamber size and increase compression) and choose the right head gasket. Possibly you should do a clean up pass on the block, which will increase the compression some too. Factor all the issues in to the calculator before you do any machine work so that you know what the compression ratio will be before you even go to the machine shop.
Have the machine shop balance the crank, pistons, rods, and the heavy stock flywheel. Keep that heavy flywheel as you want it for added torque on the little cubic inch mouse.
Finally, your stated goal was really about what the car feels like when you nail it. The differential can very much change your sense of the seat in the pants. Bump the gears to 3.73 ratio. That will likely do more than anything you can do to the engine to get your "HeartBeat" to answer up (sorry for the pun :sign0020
:anim_25: and let us know what you do!