I have a 1982 Pontiac Firebird V8 4bbl that I have done minor mods to such as exhaust and header upgrades. A 1984 305 HO is being made available to me for $100. I know my hp will go up about 40 hp but is it really worth it (time and money) to do this swap? Or...should I just wait until I find a 350? The second option has no time frame. The first option I can start tomorrow. What do you think?

 

The only difference between the engines was the cam, which is a little better in the HO. The rest of the supporting cast, exhaust and air cleaner primarily, will be needed in order to get that 40 HP.

 

OK so an entire engine swap doesn't seem worth it. I already changed the exhaust and I replaced the 82s stock air cleaner with the dual snorkel. Based on other threads I thought the heads on the 305 HO were different. Would it be beneficial to change those out and then replace it with the L69s cam?
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Sorry, I meant change the heads to the L69 heads and change the cam as well.

 

The HO was also a higher compression engine in those years (9.5:1 vs 8.2:1). The heads are the same, as is the intake manifold if you have the aluminum one. The carb is the same, but slightly more aggressive tuning. Same with the ignition system. You'll need the L69 ECM to take advantage of that though, as its all computer controlled stuff. The L69 cam is better, but not night-and-day kinda better. Only enough to notice, but not really enough to make it worthwhile.

Since you've done the air cleaner swap and fixed the exhaust, you've made the biggest two changes the L69 had over the LG4, so swapping in the L69 wouldn't get you 40 more HP on top of that.... 20 tops.

 

U.S. delivered LG4's had the aluminum intake manifold, the same part as the L69.

The 305 thread on the FAQ forum has all of this information.

 

I HAVE A 92 CAMARO RS WITH THE 305 THROTTLE BODY IS IT WORTH IT TO CHANGE IT TO A 305 TPI?

 

Not really, for the same reasons as posted above.