i currently have an 83 camao z28 with a 305 4 barrel carb, 5.0 litres, its falling apart, well im ready to buy a new enigne, a remanufactured one, well what would be the best engine, and what were the stock hp numbers of the engine? would a tpi remanufactured be better? or what i want to do, is to be able to have one of the highest hp numbers , but yet be able to tune alot, such as headers, and such. cams what ever

 

There were two 4-barrel 305's offered in 1983 - LG4, with 150 HP, and L69, with 190.

The L69 is much better, with higher compression, better cam, better exhaust, better air cleaner, better chip, etc. In '83, none came with an automatic transmission, though. The way to find out is to look at the 8th character in your VIN - if it's an "H", sorry, you lose - that's an LG4.

What I did to my LG4 eliminated all of the weaknesses of that engine, and even improved on what an L69 would have - while remaining emissions-legal. Depending upon what exactly is "falling apart" on yours, rather than rebuilding any 305 it makes a lot more sense to find a 350, build it, put it under your carb/intake/distributor setup, get a real air cleaner and exhaust system on it, and go out and hunt Mustangs.

 

sorry to break your heart, i got an auto 83 with H :-(, well boohoo,

 

What's falling apart about it?

 

its lost all power i cant even break traction any more, its running so rich, particles shoot out of the exhaust, black as night exhaust, all smog systems disabled, meaning i need a new smog pump, lines ect, vacum leak, exhaust leak, carb needs a rebuild it leaks, and gets 7MPg no matter where, plus its been overheated till oil boiled and engine seized, so theres irrepperible engine dammage, from running rich, and overheating.....and besides not enough power to put the money for new parts were talking $300 for a new carb something you dont buy used, and same for smog thats like the price of a remanufactured engine $698, oh not to mention timing is off, ran on 7 cylnders for a while, and thats what i know of...i mean theres probably more

 

Sounds like you had a major, but probably simple, tuning problem. Very likely ignition or O2 sensor related. The carb leaking is probably something in the needle & seat that a filter change would have prevented. Or, perhaps something that was removed that the computer needed to get the job done (often the case when people say "all emissions crap removed").

The only two options you have emissions-wise are computer controlled carb and one of the EFI systems (like the TPI you mentioned, or TBI). Converting to EFI will most likely cost you more than fixing whatever's wrong with the carb setup.

A couple of years ago, my nephew was driving his '86 Berlinetta from Iowa back to college at New Mexico State. Gas mileage was getting worse, power was fading. In northern NM, it simply died on the side of the road. They had it towed to the dealer, who replaced the coil and ignition module, plugs & wires. Suddenly, it had all the power back again and got 27 mpg the rest of the trip at 75 mph.

With a seized engine, it's a little hard to troubleshoot. But, very likely you've got some similar simple problem which, when fixed, would allow a 350 to run very nice. I was fortunate in that nothing had been removed and it was all in good shape. I've been driving it since late 1999 and have done basically nothing to it except the performance mods.

 

what i mean, is when it over heated, lost all lubrication and crapped out, 6 that was 6,000 miles ago im just waiting for the engine to go, i dunno it hasnt even been ran since september, the starters completly gone, it was wierd not expected, i was in the process of fixing the exhaust leak, and such, i started cranking it cranking cranking cranking, it sometimes takes a while have to stop and pump the gas, so i stopped, and than bam nothing click......and alittle smoke....dunno from what, but the carb leaking is my fault doh the person who tightend it down cracked the carb where the fuel filter sits....but what im saying is, it would be great to have someone find a carb put on the smog pump, and fix exhaust leak, but than been running on the exhaust leak for ever i know that does valve dammage, same witht he over heating, so what im getting at is ive ****ed the engine over my self.

 

Well, no offense or anything but it kinda sounds like you're still a little fresh on the automechanics scene... Just wanted to make sure you know switching from carb to TPI takes a lot of knowledge and cash.. You'll have to replace a lot of things and it probably wouldn't be worth it. TPI is great, hands down, but it sounds like you don't want to drop a lot of money into your car, so you're probably best off with carb. You can still get great gas mileage with carb, IF the car is tuned properly. Of course, you'll get better mileage with TPI, but the price difference in your situation wouldn't be worth it. In other words, it would be a long time until the money you save at the pump equals out to the money you spent on switching to TPI.

 

Also, if you intend on keeping a 305 in that car, you might be wasting your money on headers.. For a 305 there's really nothing wrong with the manifolds, and headers always leak anyways. You're in the right place though, there's plenty of us out there that can answer any question you have, so welcome to the boards