[Tom Goldman]

Fuel and timing would be the first place to look . especially if you use a grid and pull timing out on the stop . cylinder pressure skyrockets up and can kill bearings [and cranks]. and yes that knowledge is from personal experience.
That said , the carb is way too big for a 540. again ,I speak from experience .
I've had 1050's 1150's 1250's on 1000hp 565's and found the 1050 to be the best all around for the Stinnett under carb stop I run.
All of the above carbs were from name shops and all ran lean when on the stop.
I recently put on a 1050 carb from ATM Innovations . It is the first carb to not go dead lean on the stop, pulls great off the stop with no lag in rpm gain and has a great fuel curve for the entire run. and I lost no MPH over the 1150.
Plus they were great people to deal with .