The compression ratio and the cam timing must walk together. In and of itself increasing compression doesn't bring much to the party unless the compression is low against the point where the cam closes the intake valve. This is called dynamic compression or the Dynamic Compression Ratio (DCR); it is a computation of stroke used up to the point of intake closing. This dictates the entire performance of the engine from idle to the torque peak and is the reason why competition engines use massive amounts of Static Compression Ratio (SCR) to recover the bottom end power. The hotter the cam timing the later the intake closes in order to favor top end horsepower development. At lower RPMs in such an engine, the rising piston reverse pumps the mixture it took in on the down stroke back into the intake. This continues until the engine is drawing mixture at such a high velocity that the speed times the weight creates enough inertia in the mixture that it continues to flood into the cylinder against the rising cylinder pressure caused by the oncoming piston. This is why a long duration high lift cam move the torque and power peaks close together and much further up the RPM band than a mild cam.
But we're still left with the problem of the massive loss of torque thus power from off idle to about the torque peak. That's a lot of RPMs where the engine is really crippled so what to do to recover the lost torque and power (power being not much more than torque at an RPM times that RPM so big torque numbers at low RPMs make big power, just as lower torque numbers at high RPMs make big power. The solution, before I got side tracked, is more compression, this raises the thermodynamic efficiency of the engine by forcing the mixture density higher which gives a bigger bang when it burns. Obviously there are limits to how crazy you can get by many things but the big movers and shakers are the combustion chamber shape and the octane rating of the fuel you can afford to burn.
The other demand of a big duration high lift cam is gear ratio, as the torque and power move up the RPM band the engine also needs stiffer gearing to chase the power advantage and put it inside the operating zone of the vehicle. Part of this is because you can't ever get enough compression ratio to fully compensate for the cam timing and lift's impact to the off idle to torque peak zone. So you run up the gear ratio to give the engine more mechanical advantage on the bottom end. The other end of the problem of course is how much vehicle speed can you get for the RPMs the engine is capable of turning before it comes apart. So you’re stuck with this sandwich problem and where you're going to make compromises.
Now a close ratio 4 speed is going to want you to operate up on the power peaks. It is designed such that when you shift on the power peak it drops you back onto the torque peak so the engine doesn't have to work so hard as it would with a wide ratio gear box which will drop you under the torque peak unless you over rev it on the top end which might result in the engine going home in a basket. A close ratio gear box wants an engine with a whomper stomper camshaft. Plus with a 3.08 gear that wants an engine that makes lots of top end power for high speeds not necessarily fast acceleration. So for the street this is a completely messed up combination better served with a wide ratio gear box and a stiff rear axle, at least a stiff rear axle.
So to really be of useful help we need to know the cam you've got, specially the part number and brand or the intake closing point off the timing card should you have that. This the stroke and rod length along with piston to deck clearance, piston crown volume, head gasket thickness, and chamber volume will dictate the compression ratio selection which will dictate the head.
To open the obvious conversation it's impossible to beat the L31 Vortec and its many modern aftermarket relatives. It is well known that the L31 puts 20 to 50 horses on an engine with no other changes because it burns and breathes better, far better than anything that came before it. The 193 is truck head yes it makes good torque not so much from compression ratio as from the swirl vane in the valve pocket. But while that gives good low end torque it shuts the port off at 4500 RPM or less. Since power is again torque times RPM what you're lacking with this head is the ability to carry your set up of a close ratio 4 speed and 3.08 rear end to a place where the engine is making big power. In a drag race it will be like short shifting every gear. You won't get to a useful power band before you're forced to shift where it will drop you under the torque peak and the engine will struggle to get back up into its power band and will again get shut off about 1000 to 1500 RPMs under what it could rev to with a L31 style head. Not only that your intake won't fit the 193 any better than it will fit an L31, so a new intake is in the picture no matter what.
A compromise that has a chamber with most of the L31 features and will accept your intake are the L98 heads from the mid 1980s to early 1990's, there are several part numbers that have some different fitments available in iron and aluminum from GM. These at least the iron version were very popular with the marine versions of the 350. Casting 14096217 or 14101083 in iron make part numbers 10125377 for the 72 degree center bolt manifold from 1987 and up and part number 10159552 for the 90 degree center bolt manifold of 1955 through 1986 which is what you have. There is another similar casting 14011083 that also makes the 10159552 part number. Look carefully as these two casting numbers are almost the same. These are 64 cc chambers with 193 size ports that do not have the swirl vane in the valve pocket. Note you cannot grind out the swirl vane from and 191 or 193 heads.
The Z28 and Corvette L98 engines used an aluminum kissing cousin to the heads above this casting 1401128 that has a 58cc chamber and accepts the 90 degree center bolt intake such as you have. There is also casting 10088113 which makes the later version L98 using the 1987 up 72 degree angle for the center bolts. This head is found on the ZZ crate series engines as well.
If you get the wrong part number for the angle of center bolts that you have you can either Locktite a section of threaded rod into the center bolt's threads (steel in iron; aluminum in aluminum) and redrill /tap for the angle you need or egg the manifolds bolt holes. Or buy the correct intake. These L98 heads in iron and aluminum are pretty common on EBay and are almost but not quite the equivalent of the L31, they lack the beak extension between the valves from the squish/quench deck and porting isn't quite as good but the spark plug is moved to the center of the chamber like the L31, the chamber is the same volume and the valves are the same size. The aluminum version with the 58 cc chamber is used with a .053 thick head gasket which ends up making about the same compression as the cast iron version. But Wait! Aluminum moves heat faster than cast iron so you can push the compression up a ratio without getting into detonation vis-a-vis cast iron. You can take advantage of this by using GM head gaskets that are thinner than what the production engines came with. GM 10105117, this baby is a multi-layered stainless steel gasket with a 4.1 bore, it's .028 thick, works with iron or aluminum heads, good for holding back high compression and tolerates some surface irregularities in the deck and head surfaces. The other is GM 14096405, stainless faces over a graphite core, 4.1 bore and .028 thick. This thing hangs tough on uneven surfaces and puts up with high compression ratios. Good for iron or aluminum, this makes a good race engine gasket as it's very tolerant of engines running very hot. It lets the block and head move around to adjust for their temperature differences without breaking its seal.
So this is a lot to digest and I'll cap it for now.
Bogie