defaced

iTrader: (6)

Well, my wife and I got her 87 Formula back from her parents finally. It had a bottom end knock so I pulled the motor last weekend, and when I look at the stamp on the back of the block, I wasn't the happiest person. The placard underneath the hood says 5.7L and the VIN matches to a 350, well, I pulled out a 305. I took the bottom end apart and found that it spun 2 bearings. I don't have the money to buy a used 350 and have it rebuilt so I'm just going to have the 305 rebuilt.

I'm wondering if anyone on here has done the same. I'm not looking for huge numbers, just a funner car to drive compared to my Accord and her Altima. This was her first car so she's pretty excited to get this thing back up and running.

I'm just kind of trying to find out from those of you running on a rebuilt 305 what you would suggest to put into the motor to get a little bit more power out of this thing.

firebird896

Looking for the same ideas

85irocz355tpi

I would recommend putting in a slightly bigger cam nothing to severe but something close to an rv cam. Something in the 214/224 advertised duration. Keep the lift under or around .500 lift. I would also look at having the heads gone through also. Something simple like a simple rebuild like new springs and have the valve seals replaced since these start leaking around 30,000-40,000 on small block chevy's. Also since you will be rebuilding it and will have fresh seals and gaskets look into running full synthetic oil. You generally see a 10-15HP increase in just running the full synthetic. Also it protects the motor longer and you go longer intervals between oil changes. Just remember to break the motor in on conventional oil. If you have the tpi you can look into an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. You can get this from tpis for around 50 bux. Set it around 45-47PSI and you should see around 15-30HP increase. Well worth it if you ask me. I havn't installed mine yet but plan on it in the next week or two and about two weeks after that will take it to the dyno to tune it in. I have a 355 though. You should also look into boring the motor over around .030 over which would make it a 310. This is not just for a bigger motor but most engine rebuilds require this to get the rings to have a good seal on the cylinder walls. Also get a good oil pump. You don't want to skimp out on something like that. I hope this helps you out. There are a few things you can do to the tpi also But I will save this for later if you're interested.

ljnowell

50 dollar core for a 350 block, in most places. If you dont have the money for that, you definately dont have the money for the little things that will crop up along the way.

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

I am running a rebuilt 305TPI in my formula. However, as others have pointed out, it doesn't seem cheaper to rebuild the 305, than to do a 350. I rebuilt my 305 because I wanted to keep my car a numbers matching car.
When the rebuilt was done, I had a new crank and new connecting rods installed, since the car had two bent rods and a spun rod bearing. I had the engine over bored I think about 0.020 over, and also the deck surfaces machined 0.020 to restore the stock compression height. I also had things such as a new oil pump, new timing set, rebuilt heads to take a bigger cam. I had the comp cams 08-500-8 installed. Cam specs I believe are 206/212 @ 0.05 with lift of 0.480 and 0.488 with an LSA of 112. Nothing crazy. The motor now has about 2100 miles since the rebuilt and runs very nicely. However, I think that it would have been a good amount cheaper to find a good 350 and drop that in. I recommend that that is what you do since your car does not have the original engine in it, unless you think that the 350 would be too much engine for that car as far as the rest of the drive train is concerned.

85irocz355tpi

Hey defaced I just noticed your in fort wayne. I'm in angola if you need any help let me know. I might be able to make it down there sometime and help you out. There isn't much I don't know about these cars and between me and my friends we can get you just about everything you could possibly need for your car. We got a good sized third gen collection and lots of spare parts. I'm trying to get a little third gen club going around here. Let me know if your interested.

ericgzhc4t

I gave up my 350 which was running high 12's for a 305 .040 over wich is now a 315ci and I beat a 2003 or 2004 mustang GT with this combo but still lose to an LS1, I have an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Intake, Hedman headers, Vortec heads 2.02/ 1.60 valves springs and hydraulic roller cam with a 770cfm holley street avenger carb which I think is not bad but I need to mill at least .30-.45 thousands off of my vortec heads because my compression dropped a lot with these heads....heres a link where they got 325hp from a 305 chevy which is about the same as an LS1 but with smaller cubes

http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/carcraft325hp305.html