440 what am I missing here?

PRH said

There is nothing wrong with the TF cam....... when used in the correct application.
Which can be said for pretty much any cam.

A cam swap “shouldn’t” require different pushrods provided the base circle diameter of the cam doesn’t change much.

The current cam, run with exhaust manifolds, really isn’t a good match at all for the EFI.
That, combined with the large single plane intake, low stall speed and mild gearing....... and you end up with....... well, you know what you end up with.

Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. There is a lot of good information and suggestions here @Cool Hand from some people who should be regarded as “gurus”. Follow the advice by @PRH and @AndyF and you will be happy with the end result. In my opinion you need to start by verifying the compression ratio of the current long block so better decisions can be made with regards to part replacement. There is no reason why, with your current “hard parts” that you can’t put together a great package for your goals with some careful selection of supporting parts; cam, intake, headers, fall into the major supporting parts categories. Converter and gearing following closely behind.