i am a new third gen owner and find that my camaro is very slow, im stuck at what i should do. i know im going to put a posi rear end in with new gears, but im not sure if i should swap in a 350 and go from there, or mod out my 305 with a supercharger. i dont have a very large bank account as i am currently looking for a second job (only 17) anyways, ive been told to do a 350 because yes i can make a fast 305 that will be cool until some one comes with a faster 350 that they made for cheaper. but my 305 has only got 50k miles on it. but the 305 would have to be converted to a serpentine setup so i could work in a supercharger, so thats what 800 for serp. and 4000 for a charger. but i have never swapped an engine and dont want to screw it up and have a once cool car that now doesnt run. i have been throwing these ideas around for a while now. oppinions on what would be better is appreciated.

 

You are officially disqualified for supercharger.

You are much too sparing with information about your exact set-up. Since you said "slow" and talked about having to convert to serpentine, I'll assume you have an '82-'87 LG4.

If that is even close to true, let me refer you to the FAQ forum and the thread that discusses differences between 305's and performance modifications. That discusses what you can do to mod a 305 to improve performance.

Now, I have said this for a long time, and I'll stand by it: For a given amount of money, you will be faster spending it on your 305 than if you swap in a 350 (up to a point). Why? Because everything you have to do to the 305 you'd have to do for the 350, but when you modify the 305, you don't have to spend any of your budget on buying a 350. The cross-over point is when the 305 shortblock needs rebuilding (rings, pistons, bearings), but with 50k, yours isn't likely to need that.

So, let us know exactly what you've got, and we can go from there.

 

i have an 86 iroc z tpi, auto 700r4 ,http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2939922.
it smokes upon starting up and just recently started shaking in the 2000-2500 rpm range (not sure what that is yet)

 

Smoke at start-up is valve stem seals. Small block Chevys are famous for the seals getting hard and cracking, leading to oil dripping down the valve stem into the cylinder. Easy fix, don't even have to remove the heads.

TPI has good exhaust by factory standards. Headers will help.

See the FAQ forum thread.