Symptoms of wrong cam installation

Don
Did your brother ever do the compression check? IMO that's a big cam for a low compression 340, then top that off with a converter that's not right = pig. I'd think if it had enough compression and the right converter it would need more gear to run it's best. This and $1.75 will buy you a cup of coffee in some places.

I ran a Hughes 260/264 @ .050 in my 408 and it was done by 6400 even with ported Edelbrocks. My 340 ran a Hughes 236/242 @ .050, 11.4-1 with the Edelbrocks and ran 7.24.