I just got a 85 Z28 engine. Does anyone have an good combos that work well together (intake, cam, carb etc.). Also, I want it to not be that expensive. Any help?

 

Define "expensive".

The weak points of a factory 305 are exhaust, cam, heads and intake, probably in that order. The parts in my sig run about $1150 (except cam & intake - I included $120 for a decent flat-tappet aftermarket w/lifters and $150 for an EGR Performer or Action + in the total above). That doesn't include shortblock rebuild, or things like timing set, gaskets, hoses or the other little things needed to put it together. And, doesn't include any labor.

But, those things will wake up a 305. If you can get by without emissions-legal parts, you can chop off about $300 ($50 for intake, $100 for cat, $150 for headers w/o A.I.R. tubes). But, you'll have to get another carb & distributor.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R4. 2.93 limited slip. 2-1/2" cat-back, ZZ3 intake, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 CC system w/'87 LB9 block, ZZ3 cam, ported World 305 heads, Hooker 2055 headers, 3" Catco cat & 3" catback, restalled TC, Spohn SFCs).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, 9.7 CR forged TRWs, Weiand Action+, Holley 750VS w/4150 conversion, GK 270 cam, Magnum rockers, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" Hedders & 3" Warlocks, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, MegaShifter, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Idles smooth @ 600 RPM in D. Best 15.02/95.06 @ 5800' Bandimere (corrected 13.93/102.4 @ sea level).

[This message has been edited by five7kid (edited October 01, 2001).]

 

Check out my webpage. I managed to get my LG4 down to a 13.4 1/4 mile fairly cheap using the stock pistons. You can wake up your 305 with the right combination of parts. Email me if you have any questions about my combo.

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best 1/4 mile so far: 13.4 @ 101mph

84 Camaro 305 ported & milled heads, 3 angle valve job, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Hedman full length headers, Accell ignition, Crane 274H cam, B&M 700R-4, 3000 stall speed, 4.10 gear,
M/T ET street tires
visit my website at http://www.geocities.com/jbenge/page1.html

 

ok, for about 900 bucks you can get a 2 bolt main, 9:1 compression 350 that will put you in the high 12's if you have a posi. and it will have gobs more torque than the wimpy 305.

 

Rrrriiiiiiiggggghhhhtttttttt...

$900 to get into the 12's - in the 1/8 mile, perhaps.

Get real. Even if you get a 350 for $900, you still have to spend another $600-1000 for exhaust. And, hooking up the power it takes to move 3400-some pounds down the quarter is going to require some suspension money as well.

Makes me wonder if I should have even bothered responding.

Well, perhaps it's worth it. My math was wrong on the cost of my recommended mods. Should have been $1500. Still, that includes $600 for exhaust (what I paid), so your $900 350 number still applies.

Once again, IF you can get a $900 350, and that's a big "if", you're probably getting factory smog heads/intake/cam and cast dished pistons. Put $600 worth of exhaust on it and very likely it won't put out as much power as the 305 with the $900 mods I describe (which assumes you aren't paying anything for the shortblock because it's still in decent shape and can take these mods) with the same $600 exhaust.

Why does this sound so familiar to me? Oh, I've said it before, that's why! Must be that ol' worn-out "get-a-350-don't-bother-with-a-305" debate...

If you're trying to improve your available power for the least cash, and you'll have to spend ANY money on the 305 shortblock to do it, THAT's when you go looking for a 350 - not before.

 

cam the 305, do some mods to the intake so it can suck in more air.. get a hypertech or jet chip and some good gearing and it'll wake up.. bigger injectors (if u really let the air come in good).. neways..

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87 formula
LB9, Automatic
K&N
3" catback v-force muffler
Hypertech preformance chip

 

the 900 buck 350 I got was rebuilt with a balanced rotating assembly, trw forged pistons, sealed power cam, crappy 882 heads, and was a long block. It was a screaming deal, from bowtie performance in sumner washington. dunno if he has any more, they were overstock.

 

And with the crappy 882 heads and factory 305 exhaust, you were in the 12's?

 

Im sure he hog ported the FU*K out of them heads for 12's!!!!!!

 

Dunno how these will run pricewise, but 290 smog-legal hp, 343 hp, and 400 hp can be achieved. Mind you, these were built in the mid-80's, and technology has progressed greatly since, so I imagine these can be easily surpassed.
Good luck with what you decide on...

Pete

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Pete's Place
HiOutput Tech Page
83 SC..former V6...now 215+k mile LG4/5-speed.. 14.891@95.54
89 Formula..ultimate project car..fast as I can push it with one flat tire
79 Lemans..267/auto..no brakes

My karma ran over my dogma

 

I never really said I ran 12's. The point I was trying to make is, why put tons of money into a 305, which have very limited potential in my opinion, when you could do a relatively easy swap? A 350 is a much more satisfying motor to have in your car. By satisfying, I mean that a bigger bore is going to give me more torque, which makes me happy. If I was gonna sink my money into an engine, I would rather have a 350 platform to start from and be 1000 bucks in the hole, than sink two grand in a motor that MIGHT get me in the low 13's. Heck, mine isn't even on the road, YET (thank you Schucks for giving us the Fing run around. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a smart *** .

 

Old post but still read
. I guess the whole 4inch bore rule that “limits everyone’s ability” doesn’t apply to the ls engines. The only one that has a 4inch bore is the 6.0 and the 4.8 and 5.3 are very close to the 305 bore.
my rule is if you have an engine no matter the cubic inch build it. Circle track crowd have been using different small block combos for years and 500hp out of a 305 is not unheard of. And on the street scene a 1000+hp 1.6 liter isn’t an issue either. So anyone with the 4 inch limitations go with a 572 or bigger as you all say more cubes the better. Not everyone has $ to build whatever everyone else wants them to build and I’m not saying a larger engine won’t make more power. If you have an engine build it and match up your parts and don’t expect 400 if you put a puny 205@0.050 cam that a lot out there suggest. And know if they put what they suggest in a 350 most people would want a change. Conservative is cool but has its place and goes with any engine build

 

Nothing quite like an apples to oranges comparison there. You waited 10 years, used your first post and real name to bump a 19 year old thread, with that comment? WTF.

 

. First post, second post don’t matter

 

This entire topic has been beaten to death over and over again, so many times it's almost sickening.

We all know it's "possible" to get 500 HP out of a 305, at least once. We've all seen the magazine article where they did it and it blew up on the dyno. Every single time this topic comes up, somebody posts that. We're all sick of hearing about it.

We all also know that it's possible to get over 700 out of a 350 FOR THE SAME MONEY. That's really what's at the core of this argument; whatever money you spend on a 305, whatever level of risk of failure you're willing to take, whatever level of driveability difficulties (big cam, gas mileage, etc.) you're willing to accept, the 350 will beat the 305 EVERY TIME. The cost of the CORE - the thing you're rebuilding - becomes less and less significant as all those other things go up. Something as insignificant as the difference in cost between the choice of 2 brands of roller rockers can COMPLETELY overwhelm the difference between a "free" 305 core and BUYING a 350 one.

The reason the circle track people build what they do isn't because the 305 is "better" somehow than the 350; or for that matter that a 5.8L engine is better than a 6.0 or 6.2L one. Yes NASCAR still has a 5.8L limit. It's because nearly all of the SANCTIONING ORGANIZATIONS, in order to level the playing field and prevent "cubic dollars" from buying the race outcome, put RULES in place. I can't tell you how many "lift rule" (.390" / .410" usually) motors, 500 CFM 2-bbl (4412) motors, "valve spring rule" (1.25" OD usually) motors, 10.4:1 motors, 186 head motors, and so forth, I've built over the years for circle track guys. Those motors weren't built that way because that cam lift is "better" than a higher lift, or because 186 heads are "better" than 292 let alone aftermarket, or ANYTHING ELSE about "better". They were built that way because of THE RULES. The 302 small block Chevy was built because an organization (SCCA) had a RULE in effect at the time (5.0L limit) for their premier series at the time... the Trans Am series... which ironically, Pontiac didn't even run in for the first several years that they licensed the name, because THEY DIDN'T HAVE a 5.0L motor. It WASN'T because the 302 was "better" than the 350.

This is NOT a matter of "different opinion". It is FACT.

Best to just let this old thread die back into its grave and for common sense to take over from ignorance and flatulence.