340 vs 360
The 340 vs 360 thing is kind of like this.
The 360 was built in a more emission regulated era and was simply built with less power (small cams, low compression, etc)
The 340 was built in the pre heavy polluter law era .
Im not going to get into which is better but I will say both can be built (for about the same price) to make big power.
Or look at it this way........
The Chevy 350 from the 60s and 70s ranged form mid to high 300s in HP to under 170 HP in stock form (as installed in a production car) but all were 350s.