depends on your budget. I built my old series 2 on same mentality of christian majors first engine build:
t34
big valve head
newman cam
greens
lowered compression pistons
standard rods
standard gearbox
ap paddle clutch
cossie management set up by msd sounded great and was a comfortable 250bhp.

Thats all possible and on a budget.

Christian Major initially built an engine with just skimmed standard pistons, head work and a t34 running 270bhp for a number of years and top speed runs.

More of a budget way of doing things. All steel cvh are just big money, zvh/zetec engines are so torquey you then have the gearbox issues.