ok this has probly been talked about before but I want to know the cheepest way to get into the 13 second range. I curently have a stok 305 tbi w/headers and 3" exhaust and 3.73 gears that were just put in. if there is anybody that is in the 13's with there 305 tbi let me know if it was worth it. I know I still need to do some suspension mods but I just want to know if it is worth keeping the 305 and doing cam and heads...thanks guys:lala:

 

Nitrous

 

I knew someone would say that...I want power at all times...gonna stay away from nitrous

 

are you looking for jsut straight line performance or a good performing daily driver taht still has all teh creature features of a stock car?
the easiest way into teh 13's with tbi is:
*posi w/ 4.10's(3.73's will lower your highway cruising rpm by about 200-400 depending how fast you drive, 3.42's woudl be another 200-300 lower than that, but the 4.10's are the best performer)
*sticky tires(drag radial/ cheater slicks)
*stock LT1 or LT4 cam(LT4 cam has a b it more durationa dn will take a little more tuning, but will ultimatelky make more power)
*a convertor in teh 2800-3400 stall range. how far you want to go depends on how strip oriented you want the car to be
*holley or 454 tb with 350injectors
*holley tbi or high rise dual plain intake with adaptor(think performer rpmish) and gasket match it.
*boxed or tublar rear control arms
*drop front sway bar
*rear control arm relo brackets
*poly torque arm and tranny mounts
*relocate battery to spare tire well
*1 5/8 primary headers/3inch cat back/high flow or deleted cat
*custom burned chip

the power stuff shoudl be plenty to get around 100mph out fo the car if you do a minor weight reduction to teh car. that is plenty to get well into teh 13's. it is not unusual to see cars going that kind of mph running 13.5's if they are dead hooking.

later
tim

 

i think heads are also neeeeded to hit 13s

 

thanks for all that info...I am looking for a good daily driver that will perform when I want it. I like to go to the drags every other week or so just for fun. I love my car and don't like it when i get beat by imports.....the vortec 350 is an option i have been looking at but I am not sure I am gonna go that route yet. But I think in the long run that might be better if i want to build my engine up more in the futer.. thanks again

 

I was looking into getting a LO5 from www.sdpc2000.com for 1500$ putting in a new cam/intake/carb or TBI.. would be a pretty cheap (not cheap but for a new engine not bad) and that would easily smoke most imports.

I have the money right now to get the motor but i decided i need to work a few other things out first like

A. bigger rims
B. I have bald crappy tires
C. Paint
D. Posi and gears
E. SFC
F. engine

as you can see the engine is still a ways away and unless the 305 craps out on me it may be awhile before i get it.

 

well my motor is pretty much stock (headers, K&N filter, exhaust, L98 cam, and underdrive pulley) and I'm running 14.9 and thats with driving like a girl off the line. If I had pounded it I know I could have done atleast 14.6 and I know even faster if I had a torque convertor. So if you put a cam, heads, torque convertor, alittle extra mods, and some good tires. I'd say 13's aint so hard.

 

noit woudl help to create more top end hp for sure. but they are not entirely necessary. what the stock heads will do is create sustained peak hp numbers. this has been proven by several cars using other induction platforms that are runnign very quick using cams that are "too big" for the heads they have. when they hit the dyno it was found that the car woudl reach a peak torque number and then hold it for a very long distance over the curve. this flatter curve creates more uniform acceleration and allows for less drop off between gear changes and generates more mph the same way.
this is all well and good in theory i know, but it will be proven out before the end of the summer, actually prolly with in hte next few months.

later
tim

 

NJ....looks like you have put alot of money into the 305 TBI and still havent quiet got into the 13s. now that the cam is in what is next?

 

i have put a lot of money into my car. but since i was learning as i went i wasted a lot of money too. i spent excessive amounts of money on aluminum heads when the world torquer 305's were already available(vortecs were new and still unknown when i bought my heads), i had a stock cam, i bought way too mild a torque convertor, i ran a stock chip, the car needed a little more gear(i had 3.54's because that is what came in teh dana44 rear i bought), i had a poorly ultimated tb, and my car weighed in at 3300lbs when i was runnign 14's.
realisticly, teh gears, teh convertor, teh chip, or weight reduction could have individually put the car into teh 13's. when we were all starting out here we were like so many of you guyus out there, broke college/ high school students. we had no basis for developments and not enough experience with cars to know exactly what to do. in my listening to too many people about how bad the heads were i overlooked the biggest problem in our factory engine, teh cam.
now that i have corrected the errors of my youth with a 97 LT1 cam, holley tb, holley intake, 4.09 gears, 3600 stall convertor, teh car is down to around 3100lbs and soon to be burned custom chip i plan to run 12's.

later
tim

 

liquid schwartz

 

since i will proble get new heads, should i put the edelbrock performer intake on and get some heads that will work with this intake or should I get the vortec heads and intake? what is the best way to go?

 

sound good man. how streetable is a 3600 stall?? you saying the world heads are better than edelbrocks you got?

 

I'm surprised not many third gen guys do this...but forget things like gears and such...GET A TORQUE CONVERTER. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference you'll have.


Seriously, if you take a stock 305 TBI in good condition and do the following modifications:

-Headers
-3" cat-back with high flow cat
-Edelbrock TBI intake manifold
-LT1 camshaft
-3000+ stall torque converter
-3.73 gears w/ posi
-custom burned computer chip, dyno-tuned

Do you KNOW how quick you could make your car? You might suffer some 'city' gas mileage, but it's worth it. YOUR FIRST MOD SHOULD BE A TORQUE CONVERTER. And make it a good one.

 

with a 3600 stall in a lo3 your lauching past your peak torque right? if so how does that make such an improvement especically since your 1st gear is pretty much gone anyways plus with thw 3.73s 1st is gonna last a split second.

 

with teh LT1 cam a 305 will make peak torque somewhere in teh 3300-3500 range. with a torque convertor that is rated at 3600-3800 in such a light car i am not likely to see the full stall speed, even though i am hooking good and have plenty of gear, that shoudl leave the stall speed and the peak torque really close to each other.
as far as how long first gear lasts, who cares? the idea is not to use first gear when selecting a gear set, the idea is to make sure you use all of high gear. that is to say, you want to run all the way through your entire power band in every gear you use. if you are shifting at 5000rpm you want to come through the traps at that rpm or slightly higher. only by using eth whole power band in every gear will you see peak gains, other wise you are only using a portion of the engines power in high gear.


later
tim

 

so if i were to put a 3000 stall in then it would still be a good street car? or should I go 2300 stall?

 

sounds good i might get a decent stall before the motor then. and probably 3.42 gears or something.

 

what stall speed you chose has to do with where your car makes power and how you drive it. i don't care how the car acts when driving around town, so i can get away with a big stall to match teh peak torque.
look into where your cam makes peak torque and kinda back your way into a stall speed you think you will be happy with.
with a stock cam something around 2400-2600 woudl be great, with an L98 cam something in teh 2800-3000 range would be good, with an LT1 cam soem thing in the 3300-3600 range will work great.

later
tim

 

with a stall you can basically hpld the brake and rev it to say 3000 before it engages the engine right? basically it would be like a nuetral drop but not hard on the engine right? how can you hook up on the street with a 3600rpm lauch?

 

it's not really a nbeutral drop kind of a hit. the tranny input will start to spin. the rating is when the input shaft is supposed to be spining at 90% on teh engine rpm. most convertors never truely "lock up", even with the aldl jumped it will only get to 99% efficiancy. but, that is still a lot better than 90-95%.
my car hooks i am a lot more into chasis and suspension than i am into motors. engines are an amusement to me, cause i know so many guys that can just buy a better trap speed any tiem they feel like it. but if you can make a car hook and gear it right so that it is quick(remember, there is a big difference between quick and fast) you can hang with a or at least get teh attention of a lot of guys.

later
tim

 

suspension is very important...take a look at my buddies suipercharged mustang. he has ful exhaust, 3.73, and a 9psi paxton...thats the only mods. thing will fly but wont hook to save its life. it spins into 3rd its horrible he about hit me when we raced.