Whats te cheapest price to swap the engines out using anything from the other motor that would work on it. even if it means sacrificing horsepower. I just wanna get a 350 in there and then i can play around with the other upgrades. Any suggestions I am on a tight college bugdet so the mods will have to wait but i wanna get that 350 in there.

PS don't have a motor lined up yet, thinking about getting block only and building it from scratch and using the usable 305 parts

 

Are you asking what's the cheapest anyone has gotten it done, or how cheap we think you can get it done?

Cheapest way would be to get a junkyard 350 shortblock and replace the 305 shortblock. That's assuming the 305 and 350 are of the same "era" - the split line being 1986. Also assumes you do all the work yourself.

Anything more than that will cost more to do. You can probably get by with as little as $300 for a serviceable 350 short block, or spend several thousand dollars building up a 350 (or paying someone to do all the work).

No way any of us can tell how much you're going to spend.

 

will the heads of the 305 work on the 350 shortblock?


edit: ok, i found out...

 

I found a donor L98 and spent maybe $500 on rebuild and upgrades. I couldv'e done it cheaper but I only want to do it once. I also did all the work myself.

 

when you say all the work are you talking machining work or just installations?

 

The donor engine had a recent overhaul. I installed a cam, gear drive, dist, roller rockers, and painted & polished the plenum valve covers and heads, ported & polished the heads & intake, and put headers on. It runs awesome. I'm working on getting pics so the working man can see what can be done with a tight budget and determination. Look under 5.0-5.7 engine swaps in the near future or e-mail me.

 

thanks for the info. and good luck on yours

 

pretty much all the 305 parts can mount up to a 350 (assuming its a 3rd gen 350), with the exception of the really obvious parts that wont. Go to a junkyard and barter down a block...350's from the 80's arent uncommon.

Still, the problem with getting the junkyard block is that you dont know what yer getting. I'd probably still send it to a machine shop to get it checked out and all.

I personally tho wouldnt grab a 350TPI, id nab a 350 carb...its easier to deal with and 350 carbed blocks are alot easier to find. You'll be thanking yerself next year when you want to do some serious performance work if you nab a 350 carb...plus im sure you'll find one cheeper.

 

I agree with what fiveseven said. Find a 350 shortblock and throw everything on it. What I would personally do if your going to stay TPI is looking for a 80's model corvette L98 long block and use that. But thats not as cheap.

 

besides, people who own 80s vettes pretty much baby em...its rare that you find those engines in the junkyards. the L98s in vettes are nice, but you can do just about the same with a 350TPI out of any GM car...

It'd be nice to grab an 89+ vette block and transmission tho...when they started mating the 350 to a factory six speed...dunno how great that transmission is tho.

 

you can bank on it, its much better than a T-5

 

The ZF six speed is also a pain in the *** to fit into a thirdgen. Your better off with a T-56. They have just about the same power ratings.

 

The ZF six speed is also a pain in the *** to fit into a thirdgen. Your better off with a T-56. They have just about the same power ratings.