How much "shake" at idle is acceptable?

So your 340 is injected?

If it had a carb I could make it idle at 550 no problem.
With a manual trans , you sorta got to get the idle down, so you can drive slowly. 1100 rpm with 3.23s and a 2.66 low is 10.2mph, Which sucks, cuz you gotta slip the clutch a long ways out.
An idle of 550 would cut your minimum speed in half.
But I guarantee that you cannot make it idle at 550, and still drive it, with hi-stall timing, because it will get to bucking like a wild horse. You would need to get the timing down to ~5*, to kill the low-rpm power.

On another note; is that cam a solid-lifter cam? Or why is it so noisy.
If yes it is, I would recheck the lash, on account of maybe a couple of valves are too tight.
You might be able to get a better handle on her, by doing a compression test.
Yes, EFI. You're absolutely right that I have to slip the clutch to drive it. I've got 3:23 gears and even at 900 rpm (where the idle is currently set) I have to feather the clutch when starting out. The cam is hydraulic. It's always been a "noisy" motor due in part to the mechanical fan. I've never tried to adjust the valve drive train so that could be contributing to the noise but I always assumed that a hydraulic lifters shouldn't need adjusting.