I have an LO3 in my RS, and I have come to know her very well.
the other day a friend of mine asked me to do a little work on his truck with a LO5. its a 90 Silverado 2500 with a 3spd trany.
after I did the work he asked me to test drive it and make sure it was fine now.
I was very shocked to find that engine was a total dog. it sucked all the way around. I punched it on gravel and it didnt even loosen the back tire any. it also took for ever at WOT to get to 55 compared to my car.
now I know a car and a truck are diffrent, but Im sad to say my lo3 will run circles around this lo5 any day of the week.
is this normal?
the way I feel now Id rather just keep my 305 and build it up a bit and never go to a 350.

 

I've got an L05.

There are 2 different L05's
the truck version and the Caprice version.

The cam's are totally different.
The Caprice is a much stronger engine. It's also a very cheap 350 block to get started with. I've got way more power than I had with the L03, but I'm still not satisfied, I've got more mods in the future to get rid of some things that came with that *** awful 305.

Besides, starting with an L05 and replacing the heads and cam, headers and intake is still cheaper than the cheapest H.O. GMC engine, and you can do what you want with it.

That's my .02, I'm very content with my L05 and it can only get better after I'm done school and don't need fuel effeciency.

 

There's nothing wrong with 350's, they're great motors and will make more power than a 305 (not only because of more cubes, but it has the bigger bore). I've got a 350 in my 89 GMC pickup and even before we rebuilt it, it pulled pretty good. It would beat my near stock LG4 badly. It pulls down mid-low 15's which isn't fast, but quick enough for a work truck. I think that truck has a problem...

 

I agree with kfoley. There's something wrong with that truck/engine.

I used to own an '89 1500 ex/cab, shortbed, 2wd with 135K miles on the LO5.

That truck would do a one tire fire for at least a block. And that was on asphault w/tires that had plenty of tread. I never even put in a K&N filter.