CrispyClutch

1st off, if your coming in here just to preach about how I should just drop a 350 in my car,dont bother. please go pack sand in your vagina. This is what I want to do. I want to unleash whatever power its dependably capable of.

I read somewhere that theres some GM heads for like $200 each that greatly improve the HP numbers on the L03... I'm thinking they were vortech but I might be wrong..

I want to replace the intake possibly with a holly carb intake, stay with TBI, but I might not be able to stay with the stock TBI unit.

I know the Xtreme cams are great...Anyone know what specs for them produce the most balanced numbers while retaining good drivability?

I'm going Hooker headers... That way I'll always have some hookers driving along with me.

I want to pull 300hp out of the 305... But I want it to retain every day drivability without things breaking all the time. Any ideas?

I do not mind spending money on it to reach 300hp,because I do plan on keeping it for a long time, and when I do an engine swap, it's gonna get a big block...No question.

I was thinking 3:73's and posi definatly, a fresh T-5 or maybe if I can find a cheap used T-56 somewhere... I dont want to neglect the suspension part of things and I'll cover that well.

I really would like to put this car into somewhere 13's. I've always been leery of No2, but I might add a 125hp shot just for close encounters.

I'm planning on spending $1500-2000 on all of this...Maybe a bit more. Seems like it would be fun when people find out they just got owned by a 305.

89fastlookinRS

Check the sig, great setup. I would go with the ZZ4 cam if I had to do it again though. Saturday I am getting dyno numbers, so I'll let you know how I did. My setup ran me alittle over 1500 bucks.

CrispyClutch

If you run vortech heads, I heard you need some sort of a vortech intake or an adapter..Which rout did you choose?

bigREd car

*if you use vortec heads you use vortec intake. to what i've heard and been reading they say you want to mill them but i figure why? ALSO* from what i have read the gains with the heads being milled are minimal and the gains over swirl ports are extreme...
*he made a comment about using a zz4 cam with the vortec heads but i thought the lt1 cam maxed the vortec heads out without some work done to them?? correct me someone please!
*Some people to look for that did have fast tbi's -- camaroracer1992 and njspeeder they are both helpful guys and have good post reguarding 305's and tbi's there was a guy running i high 12 on the board with a 305 but he hasnt shown for a while...

my future mods when car is running again include
lt1 cam
3:42 and slp posi
havent decided on intake yet
havent decided on heads either
havent decided n2o or no n2o
stall converter s10 hand me down.. lol

total spent so far $140
total left to spend $1000
hope that'll make good #'s but its just a hope for me

89fastlookinRS

You need to mill the vortec heads to keep the compression ratio at stock or higher for a little better performance. And yes the LT1 cam maxes out the vortec springs on lift, so you would need the z28 spring upgrade. I used the edelbrock performer rpm vortec intake with a tbi adapter plate. There's 4 or 5 different vortec style intakes to choose from depending on your setup needs.

Stock vortec heads out flow stock swirl ports by far. Take a look at a website by searching on yahoo. Type in "305 power" and it will bring up a guy's car that they did a few different mods to to make 325 hp at the crank. Granted they did run carburator, but you can find flow numbers through scroggin dickey or chevy mags.

Chuck!

The Vortecs are very good heads but I got mine milled .020, too and even ran a smaller head gasket (fpp 1094) to avoid more loss of compression. You wont lose too much power putting them on with 62cc chambers but they were off. I also run the Z28 spring, too and if I were doing it again I'd put a CC304 (comp cam) in it. Its .502/.510 210/220 duration I think, its just about the max for a 305 but with the Vortec heads and the Performer RPM it'd be PERFECT. The LT1 cam was just a little too mild, I wanted to rev it to 6k but it starts to fall about 5700. Stock tbi unit cam make power, I know there's a 95+ trap in my car and its running stock tbi. Id probably benefit from a larger one but I ran out of money at the time. The hooker 2055's are nice quality wise, they dont leak at all and the y pipe is good quality, but the air fittings suck and just get in the way. They're unnecessiarly large. If you can find a set of MAC or SLP headers used in good condition I'd pick those up.

89fastlookingrs, keep us updated on the dyno situation, Im curious as to what your (and my ) setup puts down.

brodyscamaro

LOL. ok, now that i got that out of the way, how many miles are on your engine? does it smoke? if you have a cat. converter know that they will "hide" or "filter" smoke. first off, i would not buy one thing until you did a compression check and and leak-down test. i would figure out the EXACT condition of the motor. even if it is running strong, IMO if it is high-mileage motor i would rebuild it before i did mods. with that said you are looking at more money then you thought you would be spending.
whats the mileage?

CrispyClutch

126,000 miles, no smoke, and no cat. The car's been taken care of very well.

I'm going to do a compression check on it.

I would like to not have to replace the pistons... I want to avoid any engine pulling. I guess when I pull the heads I'll be able to see what shape the pistons are in anyway,right?

arrowcamaro

iTrader: (2)

yea but youll only see the top of the piston you could have a cracked skirt (which i have seen cracked and even broken off skirts) but the motor ran fine with those....but its not a comfortable feeling as far as piece of mind! you could do just a basic rebuild as far as seals rings bearings and timing chain and replace any bad parts that you come across...and that kinda rebuild shouldent cost much at all just the time to do it really........good luck!

brodyscamaro

well, then just a little word of advice, if you plan to do intake, cam, and heads: pull the engine. really it's easier that way IMO. pulling it is a pretty simple process......

but IMHO doing heads, cam, intake to a motor with 126k isnt the best thing to be doing....

edit: dont forget a leak-down test

CrispyClutch

Then I'll do a minor engine rebuild...

I want to add an engine oil cooler, ram air, and really try to keep the engine cool and happy when I do those mods.

CrispyClutch

I won't have to remove the engine to get this all done. I'll take off the hood but the engine is staying in.

brodyscamaro

thats, by all means, your decision. but i have removed the engine before, have you. do you realize how much easier it will be to work on everything once the engine is on a stand? beg, borrow, or steal a cherry picker and an engine stand (thats what i did, borrowed). those bellhousing bolts arent that bad at all. once again, just offering some insight...

ZRATED

Ive been here all along:lala: Im on this board every day dude lol

brodyscamaro

i believe he was talkign about camaroracer1992

http://members.aol.com/j007golden/joerace.html

tbfirebird

So if i were to buy a cam i should go to a zz4 why not a LT1 cam?

Thats what im saying i would rather keep my good 305 so when you smoke a 350 or anyother bigger engine they cant say well you've got a bigger engine.




(sorry crispyclutch but i really need to know)

steve8586iroc

Funny thing about small block chevys, you could have a 305 or a 427 stroker motor and claim it's a 265 or 305 or whatever, you can not tell from the outside whats on the inside. So to get to the point, you might have a killer 305 and blow the doors off a 350 or a fast mustang but when you tell the guy that you have a 305 and he dosen't believe you, you have no way to prove otherwise unless you take the heads off.

Still it's nice to build a stout motor of any displacement.

Steve

Chuck!

Technically on roller chevy engines they have 5.0L or 5.7L stamped behind intake manifold on the driver's side. Minor detail though

RED92BIRD305

im also looking into making my 305 fast every one itell me theres no replacement for displacement everytime i talk about mods im lookin into so far i hav4e headers and im saving up for gears and a posi i have done the ultimate tbi mods and added an open air cleaner my engine is in immaculant condition and only has about 70,500 miles on it no smoke nuthin i bought it a year ago from a guy that babied it since the day he drove it off of the showroom ive been reading these posts alot and i dont know where to start so i am starting to save after the rear end i have been told heads and a cam and an intake after them many times so i think thats the order i will go in has anyone added roller rockers to a stock engine what kind of gain will come from that thanks

CrispyClutch

On the no replacement for displacement thing, well, we have just over 300 cubes. Its just all in how the engine is set up that lets you take more advantage of its potential.

Along the lines of pulling the engine, I just know that id I do pull the engine, I know the car will be down for a while, but what's more is that I'll get crazy and want to do a full engine rebuild with new pistons, and I'd stroke it if I had it out... HMMM....

Maybe a engine pull and a full rebuild are in order here... Maybe I'll stroke the damn thing while I'm at it... Eh prolly not unless you guys think it's worth it.

If I pull the engine, I'll have to put the project off for about 6 months untill I get a second car so the RS doesnt have to be the daily, and I could save some wear.

I've heard that stroking to 335 only adds like 20hp, but ALOT of torque...Anyone back me up on this or shed some more light?

FreeLoader

http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/modthel03.html

That site will give you EVERYTHING you wanna know about the lo3 305 and some detailed suggestions to upgrading.

In the end, displacement truely will help you, you'll pull a lot more power out of just a few more cubes then the stock 305. If your gonna pull it and rebuild it, why dont you stroke it. make it a 335(considered a 334 but its 334.8 ci) or you could stroke and bore it to a 345, which because of the small azz bore that the lo3 comes with shouldn't affect the engine nearly as much as it would to most other engines. Anyway, just flat out stroking it can give you like 100 hp over stock, without anything else being replaced (though headers would be useful). Course in my opinion i wouldn't touch the engine till my car and drivetrain were setup for what i planned to do to the engine. Driveshaft, rearend, transmission, radiator, duel fan, transmission cooler, suspension and even a paint job if neccessary...as well as hood and wing would be my priorities before my engine was even touched.

89fastlookinRS

First off, don't even get this board started on stroking a 305. All you'll here is for the same price you can stroke a 350 blah blah blah. I've wanted to do mine but it is on the expensive side. All though I did find a guy who builds them with all forged parts and balanced for 550 bucks. He's a racer and does his own machine work. So I would say that's the only way it's worth it compared to 900-1100 bucks to have it done.

If I were you I would just rebuild the bottom end 30 over with hyper or forged pistons with some eagle si rods and arp bolts. That'll take about as much abuse that you can put to it.

Plus I wanted to stroke the 305 just to be a little different then the crowed. Oh well.....

CrispyClutch

Well yeah for the same price I could stroke a 350, but I don't have a 350, and I want to go with the 305, see the disclaimer in my original post at the top

So stroking does add 100hp eh? Hmm.. Heads, cam, intake, exhaust, 335ci.... How much HP potential does the 335 thing have??

CrispyClutch

I've got a friend whos been building chevys for 30 years and he's built a 335 before, turns out he says its not a real big deal and he said the power you can pull out can be pretty amazing out of a 12:1 compression 335...He said he would help me build it, he doesn't have anything else going on right now (He's retired)

FreeLoader

The link i previously sent has a link on that site for a 335 stroking kit, its only 600 bucks and if you have someone help you, it won't cost you too much more then that, actually that march issue of car craft in 99 did a thing on it, if you can get a hold of one read up on that first. I think they added a new intake manifold, and headers, and stroked it and got like 95 hp out of it, but that was out of a carborated one. Other tests on F.I. models (im assuming both TBI and TPI) it showed like 115 hp increase, so you can probably expect 100 or so. But like i said, change your exhaust first (including headers), and then stroke it, you'll probably be REALLY happy with the results. (that same article showed a 57 hp gain just from changing the ehxaust)

brodyscamaro

search it to get some takes on it. most people (inlcuding me) will think your crazy (stupid) for doing it. to each their own, but you obviously arent looking at the physics of it

CrispyClutch

Yeah I saw that article, but it wasnt an L03. Some other 305 design, same concept though. I know I've heard of the L03 picking up 30hp from just headers! I have yet to do that to my RS, but man with just headers and an open air that would prolly let me outrun stock 5.0's!

Hmm... Headers, intake, holly TBI, Heads, Cam... I don't have to stroke the thing. I'll keep it 305 and do the above mods... I wonder where I should be in terms of HP after all that.

Slade1

Can't stress how useless the headers are if you don't get a y-pipe to handle it. As it stands that damn t-pipe really hurts...

brodyscamaro

just look for others that have similiar setups. i dont think just headers will give your stock LO3 30HP. a full exhaust on a modded engine might do that though. what cam you looking at getting. you do know that chip tuning will be necessary, and most that get into chip tuning wish that they would have done it before their current setup so that they could get better at it. just a few things to consider when thinking about hopping up your motor. i was in the same boat as you a little over a year ago. click the link in my signature for my current setup. i am very happy with it. talk to Chuck about his setup, as i am sure he can help you out with some stuff and advice

AJ_92RS

To stroke the motor requires machine work, and a lot of it.

Granted you have a 305 now, but just to get the thing reconditioned requires cam bearings, bored .030" over (BTW a .030" over 305 with a 3.75" crank is EXACTLY 334 CI), honed, balanced, new cam bearings, clearanced for the longer stroke, new freeze and oil plugs. And that's IF the deck isn't warped and the main caps don't need to be align honed. You're gonna spend $400-500 on just that stuff. Then the kit is what $600.00? :nono: Read the fine print. It’s $145 for the 1 pc rear main crank. Add another $124 if you want them to balance it and get a new damper and flexplate. You're gonna have over $1200 in the motor, and that's not including heads, cam, intake, etc. etc.

You can save a little money by grinding the block yourself, but ONLY if you know what you're doing. One "OOPS" and that block is junk. IMHO, if you're gonna build a 305, don't bother stroking it. There's a lot more $$$ involved than what it looks like. But that’s just my 2¢.

I agree that the Vortec heads are a good choice, but have you considered World Torquer 305 heads? They're already set up to handle larger lift cams, have thicker decks, screw in studs w/ guide plates, and they have the EGR passages so you won't have to worry about that. Plus they're 58cc chambers so you won't have to have them milled. All you should do is go in with a die grinder and a carbide bit, clean up the casting ridges, smooth the combustion chamber out, and you've got some great flowing heads that will last a very long time.

Initial out-of-pocket cost is more than the Vortecs, but by the time you buy all the things and do all the work to make the Vortecs do what you want, you'll have spent quite a bit more than the World heads. Plus they flow pretty close to the Vortecs after cleaning them up a like I mentioned earlier.

It's up to you. It's your money. I suggest you don't stroke the 305.

RED92BIRD305

i added the edelbrock tes headers with a 3 inch y pipe outlet tand a 3 inch exhaust from the y pipe back all at once and i felt a huge difference in throttle response and power it really woke my little 305 up. im gonna try to do all top end mods one at a time because i cant afford to build a bottom end or do much at one time. where should i start rear end,heads,intake???????????

25THRSS

I think 30 hp with headers and a y pipe would be a pretty conservative # actually. The factory manifolds are wayyyyy restrictive. I saw a buildup of an LG4 where they did nothing to the engine at all besides headers and flowmaster mufflers and gained 50 hp to the crank on the dyno. Ide say thats pretty good!

Chuck!

I just wanted to add that you wont gain any power at all unless your parts are matched. I cant stress that enough. And after you do a cam its (imo, after expirence) imparaitve you do solid tuning otherwise you'll be thoughoughly dissappointed like I was with my setup. If you're going to do it, do it right the first time and do it ALL right at that time. I ran out of money and it ended up costing me more in the long run.