I applaud you for looking for as much input into a big decision, the whole deal is really tough given all of the the info out there, products offered, opinions, etc. It's not easy, but hopefully it's really fun for you.
There are some things in terms of performance that few folks would ever argue with, and are worth consideration no matter which specific direction you decide to go with any of the stuff you're trying to pull off. With regard to handling, in "general" terms, here are a few guidelines that nature seems to have established for us.
Newton's Laws of Motion are true. All three of them. And fundamental to all is one very important, and at some level, controllable variable: mass. If you are looking to control motion at any level, minimizing mass makes all things easier. This is in general not terribly easy to overcome with early Muscle cars, they're big and heavy to begin with, but things done to reduce this aspect of the car are almost always worthwhile, if they are safe, and not "stupid." And don't just think in terms of overall mass, lowering the center of gravity, and placing as much mass towards the center of the car as practical never hurts, ever.
Technology is a really good thing. Use it, others have worked hard to develop it, there's no downside. One really, really good example is contemporary fuel injection. Why on earth would one use a carb these days? Two reasons, cost, and lack of capability to deal with FI. Both, in the big picture, are not good excuses at all, but without question, can have a HUGE influence in the short term picture. I still run a carb on at least a few of my cars because the cost benefit of performance, economy, and effort just hasn't panned out (these are cars that don't get driven too often). If you are going to build a "fresh" car, use the best available stuff, and if you can't afford it, make sure there's a path to upgrade in a practical fashion (i.e. sell the old stuff off to some one else on a budget).
Ask "why," at least four or five times. If you ever get an answer like "because it's really cool," that should tell you something. Why is it better than the stock stuff? Why is it better than brand D? H? Etc. A very wise mentor told me that if a designer/engineer/spokesperson couldn't walk you through the specifics of a product, they probably didn't know what it was that they were attempting to solve. And as a result, highly likely that they missed the target (whatever that might have been).
M
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