Gentlemen,

Tax money has come in and its time for to get serious -

What Carb / manifold would you recommend for a '86 305? Has hooker headers and 3" exhaust w/ cutout, stock 700r4/rear end, and a soon to be installed xe268 comp cam.

My thought is edelbrock performer and a Holley aluminum street avenger 570cfm...possibly the 670cfm.

 

For the money, you can get a a stock gm 4 barrel manifold $25 bones
and rebuild a used Qjet with a Cliff Ruggels kit $100 bones give or take.. and save the rest... or better yet leave the 305 as is, and put the $$$ away for a raining day fund..

http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/

 

Edelbrock performer or airgap and a Holley. Check craigslist can find both cheap. Holley should be a 600 to 800, it will run better with the 600 but the 800 has more potential for building the engine.

 

If by "stock" rear gears you mean 2.73s, that would be the first place I'd spend the money for an upgrade. A set of 3.73s is a no-brainer with the OD trans. It's just so much more "drivable" in cut-and-thrust daily street use. And the RPMs are still very reasonable out on the highway still.

 

Running an Edelbrock Performer RPM and a Holley 600 CFM Carburetor.

 

Edelbrock Performer and Holley 600cfm here too. Pretty good combo. Wouldnt go any bigger than the 600 on a 305 for sure. Mine had to be jetted down to size 60 jets and a larger power valve (8.5) I also plan on using the same intake and carb on my L98 350 when I get it installed. Holley 600 is a great basic little carb that covers a pretty wide array of applications and can be had for cheap. Look on Ebay. I got mine directly from Holley who now has an ebay store. A refurbished one from holley that comes with a warranty is 189.00.....compare that to the same carb in your local parts store at 320.00 or so

 

I've ran the Eddy performer EPS, and on my current motor I'm running a weiand Street warrior, used to run a holley 600, but currently run a quick fuel slayer 600.
I much prefer the quick fuel, its a little more work to get it dialed in, but I love it day and night more than the holley.
Intake wise, can't honestly tell ya I can feel a difference in the two, both are pretty solid intakes.

Almost same setup as you. Vortec 305, headers, but I have the stock vortec cam + a 5 speed.
The quick fuel tends to run a little fatter all around, though. 68/73 primaries, 10.5pv, .35 IFR's.

 

My opinion is a ZZ4 style intake and a Holley 80555c (no emissions) 9895 (emissions) They are spread bore and require no adapting to your linkage.
Also note that Power Nation-Detroit Muscle just did a series on a 1987 IROC-Z. The 305 will only make about 150 HP. Before you put too much money and time into the 305 think about an upgrade.

 

Edelbrock Performer manifold, Edelbrock performer flat tappet cam, Holley 770 Avenger,
Old School GM HEI, and oh boy did that wake that 305 up !

 

Edelbrock RPM airgap and Edelbrock 600 carb, leaned out for Colorado, runs great!

 

I'd keep TPI. Put your money elsewhere.

 

only way id keep TPI is if I bought one of Holley's or Edelbrock's nifty TPI systems, ive spent enough time and money trying to revive a worn out stock GM system to cover buying one of those. after that the carb was way cheaper and performs better than the GM TBI did before it permanently bit the dust. if id had known or been warned of the problems and expense of trying to restore the stock system I would have just bought one of the aftermarket systems to begin with. but after being sapped of cash trying to fix everything the guess work computer code system said , plus computer, plus wiring, plus VATS , it was just no longer affordable to go any way except to carb it. it was a thousand times quicker and easier to setup and get running. The cost and difficulty in trying to fix and run a stock TBI is the same as trying to update a commodore 64 computer to do the same job as an intel Pentium 4 computer. an investment in a new and updated and easier to tune plug and play system would go a ton farther if you want to throw money at a fuel injection system, then you can also expand and tune a NOS system and turbos. or heck just swap in an LS system.
Keep in mind that most of those GM TBI computer systems came out before the advent of Windows 95 ! they are super dated and dumb to even spend money on.