Stall Converter

It sounds like you may have put too much cam in that 340. With 3:55 rear gears you should have some bottom end, but if you don't, a higher stall speed converter should help. What type of vehicle do you have this 340 installed in? What do you have for an intake manifold and carb combo on there? A poorly matched intake/carb/cam combo will definitely kill off your bottom end power. By the way, did you degree the cam or just install it straight up with the marks on the crank and cam gears? If you can chirp the tires going into second gear, it sounds like your engine is getting into its power band about there, but not off the line. Oh, and welcome aboard from another Canuck - you'll like the site and the people here. :)

Sid