What would be a good set of heads for a turbo 305? I'm not sure what to look for when going turbo. I'm pretty sure I would need something that flows good since its a turbo set-up. The heads I was looking at were the Edelbrock Victor jr. and the Jeg's aluminum heads. I also read in another forum that Vortec heads are a good choice. Any advantages or disadvantages to these heads? Any other options or opinions are also welcome.

Thanx

 

just about anything that will get you the compression you want with the shortblock that you have and that has 1.94/1.5" or smaller valves (unless you want to get into some fancy machine work).

 

Thanx for your answer crossfire. Your very helpful when it comes to turbocharging. The Edelbrock E-Tec heads have 1.94 intake and 1.55 exhaust. The heads also have a 64cc combustion chamber. That should put my compression around the right area, but the thing is it says there for engines with vortec style intakes. Will these fit a 305tpi?

Thanx

 

yes if you buy the TPI vortec lower from the few places that have it but it has no provision for EGR but SDPC has a kit to add a EGR provision remotely (sdpc2000.com)

 

I just notice these heads on the Jeg's catalog: World Torquer 305 heads. They are the same as the other heads and they aren't vortec style. The 305 stock heads have 58cc combustion chamber right? If so, does putting a larger combustion chamber raise compression? Is the 305's stock compression around 8-9?

Thanx

 

I doubt it.

Edlebrock only lists the E-Tec heads as working on >=4" bore engines (302, 327, 350, 400…), though if the valve size that you list are correct I'd be surprised if they couldn't be made to work.

To use a vortec style head you'll either have to use the SPD vortec TPI base or another vortec manifold.

To be honest, I see no reason for anyone to run those heads unless they need stock replacement heads and don't feel like looking/rebuilding good stockers.

The stock LB9 should have 9.3:1 compression with it's stock 58cc chambers. Changing to 64cc heads should lower your compression a little less then 1 point.

What exactly are your goals for this engine? What do you want to run for an intake? Do you have a turbo?

 

I would like to get this engine into the 11's. I haven't exactly picked out a turbo yet. I've been more concerned on building my 305 block to handle boost, but I was thinking along the lines of a T-4 or T-3. I'm most likely going to get a partial turbo kit from BBSD. As for the intake, I plan to use the TPI intake, but I have been reading about the lt1 intake swap on www.lt1intake.com/services.htm , I don't think I'll be doing that cause the site says the lt1 intake is better for high rpm engines. Wouldn't it be better for intake to work better at low rpm since the engine would be turbo or would that not matter?

Ray D.

 

You're over thinking the problem. You should be able to run 11's with boost with factory heads. If you're building an engine specifically for the application I would probably pick a set of normal OEM heads with the chamber size that will get you the compression that you want and do a basic clean up/pocket port to get them to flow about 200cfm about .050" below your max cam lift, and then run a stock TPI intake…

Of course, that assumes that the rest of your setup is close to optimized for those 11's. that won't work if you're hoping to run 11's in a 4000# car with 2.73 gears and a stock converter…

 

Sorry about that. I tend to overlook this often. So if the stock heads are good then I'll worry about heads later. I'm not sure what you mean by 4000# car, and i do have posi but i don't know what gears come in the drum brake posi units. I have a Dynomax super converter and Turbo cat back in my room right now. I'll install them someday soon.

 

you obviously don't know what your getting into. the "converter" he is talking about is a torque converter for your transmission. you will need to get a nice one, probably from a good company like ATI or something like that. the # is a lbs. sign. so he was referring to a 4000lbs. car, not 4000 number car. if you any amount of boost on that stock rear end your going to blow it to high heaven. i would suggest a much simpler build. start at the bottom and work your way up, learning as you go. right not, i am assuming your just throwing ideas around. spend your money a little wiser. i would look into an aftermarket rear, and a tranny that will hold up...that dynomax catback will not support an 11 second pass. all these things are to encourage you into a different direction right now. i would see about doing something a little slower paced instead of going gun-hoe into a money pit.

 

The torque converter in the tranny didn't cross my mind when I wrote that last post. I have no plan on going turbo anytime soon. 11seconds is only my final goal. I need to work on my sunspension, and some other stuff first. I still need a new idler arm, and i just replaced my torque arm and panhard bars. I'm only trying to understand stuff right now that I don't. Thats also why I bought "Turbochargers” by Hugh MacInnes. There's no way my car could handle a 11 second pass right now. I don't think it would hold up well for an 13 second run, but thanks for being concerned anyway. Don't wanna loose a fellow third gen lover Do you know the gears that come in the drum brake posi units? All you input will help me down the line. Do you plan to turbo nova? Nice car by the way.

Thanx

 

i think 3.23's...but don't quote me on that. i do plan to go forced induction, but way down the road, and it will probably be a procharger through a holley commander 950 controlled efi system...but that's after the 9" and beefed up th350 or powerglide go in...and did i mention i need another car for a daily driver first

 

Just wanted to share what I found out about the world products heads you mentioned. There are 2 styles, the world SR heads are STOCK REPLACMENT type heads, thats what SR stands for. The world TOURQER heads have bigger valves and flow a little better thats why they are called tourqer. If I were to go all out I would get a set of heads that would flow the best and then worry about compression ratio, you could always lower compression with a different style piston and keep the better flowing heads. At least I THINK it would be better that way
by the way, they put anywhere from 2.72 to 3.73 gears posi and standard in the drum 10 bolt rearednds. You just have to open it up and look. I think 3.23s are the most common. These cars are old enough that you cant even trust the axle id numbers anymore. You could have a axle that was originaly 3.23 and was rebuilt with 3.73s, you never know.

 

Yea, I realize that… and for what it's worth, what I wrote above applies to both…

Huh… would someone do something like that???

Lemme think. I took the 3.42's out of my '97 and used them to replace the 3.23's that I blew up in the '83. I put 4.10's in the '97. I blew those up and put some 4.10s in, repeated that process a few times, I think once it was 3.73's since I got them cheap. Finally I picked up a rear out of a '95 anniversary TA (they came from the factory with welded tubes and painted) that I turned the hubs down to match the '97 hubs and swapped 3.73's into…. So I currently own an '83 3.23 7.5" 10 bolt with '97 7.625" 3.42 gears, I've got a '97 rear with some broken richmond 4.10's in it, a '95 3.23 rear with 3.73's in it in the '97 TA with '97 and up size axle hubs… in my '97

I still have all the original tags :P

 

The pistons i plan on using are speedpro forged pistons. They come in the Summit Sealed Power rebuild kit. These pistons should lower compression to 8.64:1 with 64cc heads. Using other pistons is a good idea, but finding forged pistons for a 305 is difficult.

My car did belong to my dad, who did nothing to it, but planned to. When he passed away the car became mine, so I know know one messed with the rear, but I can always replace the rear. I don't like drum brakes anyway.