I also replacecd my points with a Pertronix I, and that is about the best thig I have done on my '65 289. The starter barely turns over before the engine is running. It felt like I picked up a few ponies as well. I think I paid like $65 bucks at the time. They are probably around $100 today. MSD is a whole lot more expensive. I didn't add the flamethrower coil, and I don't think I need it. My old coil works just fine. I wrapped the wiring from the coil to the distributor with black shrink wrap, and you would have to have a good eye to tell it isn't the original wiring for points.
If you want to keep the engine original looking, just do a regular overhaul. You could do some internal things like flat top pistons, and extra duty rods with 4 bolt mains, but that isn't necessary if you aren't going to race it.