hi guys
this is my first post here and am glad the ther is a forum that has that share the ideas and help for trans am 3rd gen
i have trans am 1984 with the 305 engine (( not HO)) and its still works fine
the car just run for 100040.76 MI so its still in factory shape
am the 2nd owner and the car still in factory shape but am thingking of making a boost for it or swap to ls1 or ls2
am welling to lesten to any advice i can get before i cheose what to do
thankyou
urs

 

Swap it! 305s are gutless you need more power lol

 

Welcome aboard! Do you have a budget and power goal in mind? At the end of the day all the supporting parts to accommodate an LS swap will cost more than the engine itself. Take some time to read the stickies and other build threads to see what you are getting into. Have fun and ask questions.

 

If you want decent power, do not mod that 305, its a waste of money. By the time you get any power out of the 305 you'll have swapped to a 350 minimum and invested in a set of aftermarket heads.

Honestly, a 5.3L swap makes a hell of a lot of sense just to get a Gen3+ engine in there. Though an LS2 or LS3 is a massive bump, even stock.

 

LS swaps are so popular they make some of us cringe. There is certainly a lot of middle ground between keeping the stock 305 and swapping to a completely different power train. Personally I have zero interest in keeping up with the LS learning curve, but I can think of a lot of ways to make a thirdgen better than it is with a stock LG4. Read up a bit and decide what you want, but yeah don't waste time with the 305 unless you're ok with it's stock level of performance, or the parts will carry over to at least a 350.

 

up to you man! Think you need to weigh your goals. If you want to make power an LS swap is definitely a really good option. If you want to keep it original then stick with the 305.

if you’re worried about the cost of the swap factor in what you’ll spend to get some power out of a 305. Then factor in how much a rebuild or swap down the line will cost when the 305 blows up 😜

 

LS swap makes the car much more exciting to drive. Not mention the satisfaction of having something you built with your own hands. But I wouldn't do it unless you keep the car a while so you can enjoy it long enough to make it worthwhile. Usually somebody is not going to keep a '80's Firebird very long unless it was their dream car.

 

very easy to upgrade -just obtain an SBC 350 or 383 you like and install over a weekend better exhaust and other improvements can be installed during the swap process or afterward with just a little more bother.

 

yer gonna get a lot of different responses here, especially if you don't say what your plan for the car is (daily driver, racer, what kind), including how much you wanna spend

 

yah agreed

 

thanks man
well i dont have any problem of the budget but the thing that i have a problem of is
if i change the engine will it drop the car value coz alat of ppl telling me to keep the orgenal engine since its matcheing number and its still working good
ill check the other theareds and see if ther is something usful
thankyou

 

i know and i agree with u about the 305 engine
and the 5.3 is a good idea but ls2 make sens but the thing is
if i change the engine will it drop the car value coz am still keeping the car at the factory shape
am still dont know what to do but ill see the others suggestions and advice
thankyou

 

ur the secand one that advice me to not to waste time with the 305 but what if i make my 305 engine to 305 HO as an upgread to the engine will it make some more power ?

 

i guss i need to rethink about it again coz what i have now is that in my country is a hot weather its like 131°F and i am worry that the engine wont keep up with this any more ....

 

am keeping the car coz i love the 3rd gen trans am
its rare here in kuwait and we dont have it here
we here only get the 1at and the 2nd gen trans am and have alat of it
ill see if i can do some more reserch on threads and hope it will help
thanks

 

thanks ill keep that in maind
350 is a good engine and ill see what i can do about it

 

good quetion
its gona be a daily driver and also want to get some boost for the engine

 

-swapping the LG4 for an upgrade SBC will not reduce the value much and you can keep the removed original engine preserved to reinstall if desired.
-The LG4 305 is an SBC and very easy to uprate to ~230-240 HP,just don't expect a 400 HP miracle without big modifications...
-To cope with 131*heat,install bigger radiator,an engine oil cooler,aux.transmission oil cooler,and an aux. electric fan between the engine fan and the radiator.

 

Don't waste money trying to upgrade the 305. Any internal parts are just wasted money. If you want to stay traditional SBC, look for an 87 or later 350, and put your money into building up the better engine. Up to the Vortec 350 from the late 90's is practically a bolt in, and a huge upgrade from an early LG4. About the only time people rebuild or build up a 305 is when they're ignorant and don't know any better, they're stubborn, or they have brain damage. There's always someone building up a 305 to prove something, which is silly because no one really cares. A fast 305 is still just a 305, and it carries the stigma of being a 305 regardless.

 

A 305 can be built to make your machine go fast. It just costs a lot. Personally, I love to just cruise in my Formula. Not worried about going fast. If you want that, why not just buy another fast car and preserve the T/A.

 

Sounds you like originality..there will be a day noone will want a ls swapped car, like old TBI or TPI conversions.
Do what YOU like who cares about some buyer down the road? thats like wondering who will bang your woman after you leave.
in your situation id order up a crate 350 383 or be sneaky and drop a 400 in there you wont be able to keep tires on that thing. 400s make huge torque without having to cam the daylights out of it. Even a basic 9-5 to 1 400 with a 250cfm head moderate FT cam will run pretty hard

Do you have emissions testing?

 

I dont think I've seen a cheapened 1rst gen because of an ls swap.

 

Nah, not even remotely true.

Back in the day when people swapped to TPI engines it was because they were going from carburetor to fuel injection. Pretty cool at the time but not what the performance guys were doing.

In contrast, the LS is the greatest engine swap of all time. TPI never was that. There will never be anything like the LS again that can be transplanted so easily into old cars, high volume and affordable. Never. Ever. The OEM's will guarantee that as technology becomes less adaptable to stand-alone swaps.

Long live the LS. Our hobby would be far worse without it.

 

[QUOTE=cuisinartvette;6359849]Sounds you like originality..there will be a day noone will want a ls swapped car, like old TBI or TPI conversions.


ya - bc in a couple of years electric conversions will be the new fad. I've heard of guys planning chassis swaps fer electrics, everything looks the same on yer 69 maro, but it makes no noise, and go's like nothing else around it can..... When u get home, u plug it in....

 

I wish there was an option to "Love" this and not just "Like" it...

 

Find as 350 and it can look stock if u want it to.. but be much more powerful.

 

amen! 🙏🏻

 

Clearly you aren't in the US, so the availability of various things that might be common here, might not be the same wherever you are. You'll have to judge that for yourself since we don't know where you are and even if we did we might not know what used parts are available there.

The "value" of your car isn't a factor. Nobody will ever care about "originality" of a car with the LG4 engine. A 5.0 liter engine that only made 145 HP - that's less than 30 HP per liter, while modern engines make 3 times that much power OR MORE - is NOT the sort of thing that people are going to get "nostalgic" over. Don't let that be a factor in your decision.

Small block Chevy V8 swaps, until about 15 years ago when LSx motors started becoming widely available for swapping, were BY FAR the most common swaps. Look back in this very forum at old posts and see how many people were complaining about "I don't want to swap to a 350, it's been done so many times it's boring now, I want to do something different". Up until 2005 or so, the 350 was BY FAR the most common engine swapped into EVERYTHING; even into old Frods like Model T (early 1920s) and any number of different other car brands. The reasons were, they were CHEEEEEEEP, plentiful, EEEEEEEZY to build, EEEEEEZY to swap because of the availability of parts, and for their day, could give plenty of power.

Fast forward to 2020. Times have changed. Availability of junk engines has changed. Parts availability has changed. People's expectations for car "performance", not only power output, but also freedom from leaks, fuel consumption, ease of (or lack of need for) maintenance, and so on, have changed. The old small block no longer is the go-to choice. GM putting LSx motors into trucks - the 4.8, 5.3, 6.0, 6.2 variations of it - mean that there are now MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of these things laying around. They now occupy the place in our hobby formerly occupied by the 350. Cheap, plentiful, wide parts availability, and so forth.

If you're seriously interested in the level of "performance" that you can get out of something like a boosted LS2, then an older small block such as a 350 is not for you. The newer motor is simply BETTER in every way for that sort of project. There IS NO comparison. The "everybody is doing it" kind of argument against it is HORSE PLOP. Just like the 350 used to be, there are REAL GOOD REASONS why "everybody is doing it", and those reasons apply to YOUR project as much as all of theirs. Taking that argument and using it against a LSx swap, and using it in favor of a 350 swap, is about the most basic abuse of logic possible.

The 305 is NOT a good candidate for modifications. Not of any kind, not for any reason, not at any price, not in any part of the world. Especially not in 2020, and ESPECIALLY NOT the version of it that you have.

IMO in terms of common sense, your best options are: (1) leave it alone, and continue to enjoy what you have, as it now is; or (2) swap to some LSx variant. Which if I were doing that, I would look for a 6.0 or 6.2, and I would look at trucks, because they are PLENTIFUL and the used motors are CHEAP. I would NOT modify the 305 in any manner way shape form or fashion, and I would NOT go the 350 route. Not in 2020.

 

Good idea, but don't you think that if you put a bigger radiator and the fan changed, it might make the car Heavier ?? And actually, if I change the engine to 350 I might get more power

 

I agree with you because I was thinking about the issue of upgrading the 305 engine, as I was thinking that the car is still in the factory condition at 80 percent, so I do not want to change the engine and at the same time I want to get more power and this point that I think of
About the 350 engine I think you're right and thinking about the Chevrolet Impala SS engine 1996
We will see what can be done
Another question
Regarding the transmission, do you think I may need to place a new one, especially as it is possible for me to change the entire system

 

Actually, it's an idea, but I currently have a 2007 Caprice SS Holden with 6.0 engine
I will think about it before deciding whether to buy another car with more power or upgread the car

 

thats what am talking about
the swapped engine wont be a valuble car and this is the thing that i was worred about
the 383 might be an option but the parts is hard to find and cost alat of money
i was thinking of upgread to HO engine with the same engine but i guss its not wortheble
and no i dont have the test

 

1st or 3rd gen u mean ?

 

ill think of all the things u told me guys and ill tell u My decision

 

Thank you very much for these tips, which in fact will help me a lot in my decision
I live in Kuwait in the Middle East
Indeed, it convinced me of the issue of the engine, as the responsibility of developing or modifying the engine is not beneficial for that
About parts and engines we have here and I can even order them from the spare parts sites so there is nothing difficult for me
There is one more thing I'd like to ask
You mentioned that I can switch to lsx truks engine like 6.0 and 6.2 whill it be good choice for this i got the engine in my caprice holden 2007 with 6.0 engine

 

-upgraded cooling system won't add too much weight,and well worth the benefit in a very hot area.To compensate for a little added front weight,remount the battery to rear where battery will last much longer away from underhood engine heat.
-stock th700 will be ok behind mild upgrade 350/383 engine, 3.42:1 rear axle gearing works great with these engines and transmission.
-no worries about value or originality negatively effected with SBC(small block chevy) 350/383 upgrade -just keep original 305 and swap back if desired at a later date.

 

thanks and i will consider the options and see what will happen