What's the engine in? Stock heads/compression ratio, stock cam is hard to beat for bottom end torque. This is where it spends most of it time.
Best bang for buck = higher compression. This will nicely bump up the torque in the real world street driving.
Wether you get it from cut heads or aftermarket, it's your money.
I guess you haven't got John's (Jwl) book, flathead facts, if not get it. Good back to back dyno stuff on all sorts of combinations. Could save you a bunch of cash.
Martin.