The only reason the 340 is the bad *** motor is because they didn't build a 360 during the horsepower era. If they did you wouldn't even be able to give a 340 away.
technically, your wrong, they built 360s in 71 which was probally the high mark of 340 performance. But they never intended the 360 to be the performance engine, although with compression, cam and headflow, the 360 is every bit as capable.