My engine is getting up in miles, so I thought I should plan on a rebuild sometime in the future. I am thinking next summer hopefully. If I do not find a reasonably priced 350, I will either just work the 305, or stroke the 305 to a 335 or something like that.
With either of the 3 engine sizes I would use, I would go with:
- Vortec heads
- Edelbrock Performer Intake
- All TBI mods as well as hopefully boaring to 48mm w/ 350 inj.

All I need to do is find a cam that will go with the stroked 335 or the 350. I will most likely go with an LT1 if I keep the 305.
I need the cam to be cheap and for a daily driver. I was thinking of just getting a cam from the cam kit that Edelbrock gives with their intakes, but figured I should ask you guys.
If you could make some sugestions, I would appriciate it. Otherwise, I have heard that a LT4 hotcam, or something would work. I'm not sure of the difference between the Hotcam and the regular LT4 cam. Would either work on a 350, or should I shoot for the Hotcam?

Thanks

 

teh edelbrock cam is garbage. no need to even look at it.
an LT1 cam is great for a 305, LT4 cam is also very nice and will work in a daily driver 305.
i woudl suggest not wasting any money on the 335 inch stroker kit, for less money you can just do a 355 and have 20more inches anyway.
if you do decide to go with the 350 then i woudl suggest a little bigger cam, teh more inches the more cam it takes to mess up teh idle or drivability, something like a ZZ4 cam cam be found in classifieds and scoggins-dickey for around $100. it can also be made to work in teh 305, but it will have a bit rougher idle and will require more tuning.

later
tim

 

I've got an LT4 cam and now that it's running well I'm wanting something larger.



Oh yeah, I forgot I'm a lazyass and that would be too much work!

 

Oh gee i just happen to have my Scoggin-Dickeys catalog sitting right next to my pc. I would tend to agree with NJ Speeder. Don,t waste your time on the 335 i,ve seen one in a Monte SS and it was sad He bearly broke twelve on a 125 horse shot of N2O and with all that work he should have been in the high 11,s The hot cam and zz4 grinds are good .492/.492 lift 218/228 @ .050 w/112 lob sep for the hotcam .474/.510 lift 208/221 @ .050 w/112 lob sep for the zz4 cam. both are $175.50 Of course if you go with the 350 the hi-perf grind would probably be streetable and have a nice rumble to it. .539/.558 lift 234/242 @ .050 112 lob sep for $219.85 but all depends on what you want.

 

Just be careful on the lift of your cam if you go with one with more lift than LT1 cam. Most stock heads peak at .480" lift without having machine work done to them. You can mess up a lot of expensive valvetrain if your heads and valve springs won't take the lift. Been there and done that.

 

So Tim, you are saying that a ZZ4 cam would be better for a 355 than a LT1 cam.

what is the difference between the two. I mean as far as HP, 1/4 mile, and SOTP.

thanks

Kurt

 

Alright, scratch all that stuff above, I am now looking for a cam that would work well with a 327. The setup I have planned for it are in the sig. I know I cannot go with a roller cam. iroc22 suggested I go with a hydraulic flat tappet cam. He also suggested a Comp Cam's Extreme Energy cam. I don't know anythign about this one, so I am going to need your input on this. I want to be able to afford to drive this every day, so something along the lines of the LT1 cam, but a little choppier so I have a mean sound to it. Or does the choppy sound mean more fuel?

Thanks again guys

 

Hey hometown....

claysmithcams....one of the best and cheaply priced bra....

CHEVYTOWN

 

just out of curiosity what are the specs of the stock 305 tbi camshaft?

 

Tiny Very tiny! LT-1 or even a Crane CompuCam would be a noticible improvement (with exhaust and ultimate TBI)

 

I agree, be careful when picking out ur cam. If u have stock heads the lift can't be near .480

 

I have a strange and probably stupid question, instead of buying another 350 block why don't you just bore out your 305 block? Then if the crank isn't worn to bits then you can just get 350 parts from there and save some cash. Just a thought.

 

You can bore the 305, but you can't bore to the point to make it a 350! The biggest you could go is .060" over and that's pushing the limit!!

To bore a 305 to the point it's a 350, you have to bore it close .250", that's almost a 1/4 of an inch. You'll be in the water jackets at that point. Heck, you could almost read the newpaper through the walls at .060" over.

The biggest you can go safely is 334 CID. That's boring the 305 block and installing a 400 crank. You'll have a real torque monster, but torque alone won't win a race. You need the HP!


Later,
Mike

 

Hmm, i was always told that it was just a 350 block with a smaller bore. I know the 350 and the 305 have the exact same stroke and it would have made sense for it to just be the same mold with a smaller bore. Then again this is gm, the creator of the electric hatch pull down motor mounted on a plastic braket with metal gears working with plastic gears, so who knows.

 

They are the same block, but they come from a different mold. The water jackets on a 305 are larger then the 350, thus the reason why you can't bore the 305 to 350 inches.

Yeah, GM does have a weird way of designing parts!!

 

Hmm larger water jackets and the damned things still have a hard time keeping cool. Way to go GM. Good to know about though because i was thinking about sometime in the far future maybe haveing my uncle bore mine out to 350 but since the jackets are in the way it will just stay a 305.

 

Hmm, all this talk about 0.480" max lift has me worried.
I have an F-Body LT1 cam in my possession which has the following lift specs with 1.5 rocker arms:
0.447 0.459 I/E

Now with 1.6 arms, that's:
0.477 0.490 I/E

Are you guys saying that on my L05, I can't run 1.6 arms on my stock heads? Or are the L03s different?

I'm also wondering how my ECM would like the lift on the 1.6 arms - I think the duration/LSA is more of an issue than the lift itself, right?