Oh, so youre dropping in a Vtec huh? You should be ashamed of yourself quoting the Honda manual here like that! LOL j/k...
Honestly, lets be real here... Like you said, the price difference between your 302 and the 350 is negligable at best.
Now, with a 350 small block, it cost almost exactly (read:no extra charge) the same to rebuild it into a 383 as it does to freshly rebuild a 350. That's like what, 50 free hp, give or take? And it becomes very easy to hit that 450-500 hp range on a budget. And you get more from your mods. The intake that would have given you 25hp on the 350 might give you 35 on the 383. Same with the cam, heads, etc. etc...
If low power is your goal, then hey, youve already hit it with the fresh built 383 and you dont have to fool with it anymore.
You will have to spend a ton of money with smaller motors trying to play catch up as the 383 makes leaps and bounds in its power levels.
As far as low rpm torque, yeah, it comes on strong at about 1,200 or so, and pulls all the way till you piss on yourself or shift, whichever comes first.
Remeber: those "torquey" engines usually have hp numbers that match the tq numbers.
Properly built, they will rev freely in the low 7k range without too much to worry about. But comparing the redline of 2 different engines really doesn't prove anything. A Honda B18 screaming at 10k rpms making 230hp, or a 383 at 2,500 rpms making 230 hp... What did that prove? The Honda guy will be rebuilding before I am!
You really aren't adding too much extra weight, and any that you did gain is grossly offset by the criminal amount of frame twisting power you just gained with it.
What was it that Shelby said? Something to the effect of "Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races..."
There is no replacement for displacement...
That said, I would love to see the completed 302 swap, just because that's not what everyone else is doing.