Ok I have a 89 Formula w/ a 305 TBI with only 82,000 miles on it. The question is with $1000.00 what should I do. Should I go out and get a used 350TPI or 350TBI, or should I try to upgrade the 305. I've heard you cant really do much with the 305, all the real power is in the 327 or 350. So any opinons here? I mean hell headers cost ya around 600.00 now, for 1200.00 I can get a used 350TPI with less than 90,000 miles on it. Any opinions will be appreciated.

It really depends on where you want to be with your car when its finished. Although we are never really finished. A 350 will get you more power with less mods or you could mod the 305 and still get decent power although the 305 TBI takes a lot of work to get to the 350 TPI level. Its your car, do what makes you happy. But since you have t-tops I would strongly suggest some subframe connectors.

350's are ez'r to come across rather then the good 327's parts are also cheaper though most are interchangable until you have it customized or until you turn it into a street thumper. I second the SFC's T-Tops have more flex, with more power you dont want it to flex. are those headers your talking about for $600 24K gold-plated? Heddmans are about 120. black uncoated or about 300+ coated.

and depending on where you live (smog test) a 327 may not have mounting holes for this crap. my '69 327 doesnt have mounting holes for it. well look at this way where the 305 is done making power is where the 350 starts making its power. errr something like that.

With $1000 I don't think you really have enough money to take care of a 350 swap of any kind. You say you found one for 1200 bucks but figuring in all kinds of other miscellaneous parts you have to expect what you think then half as much again. You want to be safe with something like that, think more along the lines of 1800 for a full engine swap with that 1200 engine.

I'd say get some exhaust stuff- headers, y-pipe. Get the good kind since you have the dough. What you have left, buy/steal/find/whatever a CHEAP-*** core, and then some tools to tear it down and disect it. Get a good book about Chevrolet engines, and then learn. If you do a good job at tearing down the engine, you can probably use alot of the parts (especially the block) for a later engine build.

I suggest the engine thing because it will really get you to see the engine, so when you do the big engine swap you'll know everything you can about the core your putting in. Plus if you use it, you'll get the pride/experience of putting together your own engine. Thats something you can get a tatoo for!

I second Jackal8069.

For sure the exhaust part. If you get exhaust from the headers back, you can reuse them on a 350 later.

Subframe connectors and suspension components are other options though!

Part of the fun is the "What if..." part.

Another thing to think about is a baseline. Before you start modding, get a someting to measure your performance gain against. That would be 0-60 time, dyno run or an official 1/4 time.

If you're serious about building your car later, start from the ground (suspenion) and work your way up. All the power in the world means nothing if you cant get it to the ground. Lord knows that I have that problem.

$1k gets you LCA's, relocation brackets, Eibach springs, PHR and a tq. arm. I like my BMR stuff, a lot, but lots of guys have good luck with the Spohn stuff and he's a sponsor.

i agree with Chuck, and i also like my BMR stuff.

.. i personally like the idea of trying to build up the 305 tbi just because not to many people build them up and 350 are so common but like everyone else said you really should just do what you want but i would advise looking into some sort of power adder and heads

Yea I thought about building up my 305 since noone does it, but the point is you can get alot more power alot cheaper and eaiser out of a 350. I dont know I may try it since my motor only has 81k miles on it..... hmmmm now about the subframe connectors I was puttin off getting them but I will prob get them soon. Thanks for the opinions guys keep em comming

My plan is to have the fastest bolt on L03 car period. Then I am going to spray it and become the fastest stock heads/cam L03 as well. I'll tell you this though, it's gonna cost a lot more than $1,000 to achieve that. I am well on my way to achieving my goals though. I am hoping for mid 14's by the time my track opens back up. We will see, we will see. Big goals, but I think with enough knowledge it's not too far out of reach. The L03 never gets respect and I intend to give it just that.

I am thinking first thing im going to do is swap my 2.73 open for a 3.27 posi what do yall think?

Hey guys I just found a "1987 Z28 Borg-Warner posi-traction rear end " on ebay it claims to be a 3.27 posi with disc brakes, has 2 days left. First of all could this really be a Borg-Warner? According to the tech specs page only an auto Iroc-Z T/A or GTA had a Borg-Warner rear. Next question how much is it worth, its starting bid at 100.00 or buy now for 450.00. Any opinions will be appreciated this is exactly what I been looking for, for awhile.

y not buy a 3.73 posi

Because I just found this, just asking opinions on it. Is there much diff in a 3.27 and a 3.73 and do yall think I should get a rear end or try to find a complete parts car with a 350 and a posi rear end and just swap parts? And how much do you think the rear end is worth?

if you're going to find a parts car with a 350 and posi-rearend for the bird then i suggest you sell you bird with the TPI on it and find a running TPI 350 car.....I'm sure you'll have better luck trying that. and, yes there is a difference between a 3.27 and 3.73, a noticable difference at that.

I know there is a big diff in 3.27 and 3.73 but is there a big diff at only 200hp? And did you just say sell my bird? haha you are funnnny.

....does an L03 cease to be an L03??

25thRSS, I like what you're doing and am watching with great interest---you've also given me some good, straight answers in the past. My question is, I've read the heck outta this board. What appears to make an L03 what it is;

Stock TBI, swirl-port heads, peanut cam, restrictive exhaust. Right?

So, if you change the heads, cam, and exhaust, and mod your TBI, what's left that is L03-specific besides the VIN?

What I originally wanted to do was slide in a cam, poof, better engine. Doesn't look like that's how it works, from what I read here. Now I'm reconsidering messing with it at all, I may be starting out on a "slippery slope", first the headers, cam, intake, heads, I may be well on the way to time and expense equal to swapping in a 350.

Let me ask the question backwards:

What mods are the biggest waste of time and money without the others to go with them?

Ignition box without nitrous or serious power
Cam without tuning
Heads and cam without gears or suspension
Heads and cam without fuel system mods (pump regulator sometimes injectors)

There are a lot of weak link on these cars and once you srat it is a chain reaction to get everything to comply with your new mods. If you are just starting out I would stick with the things that do not require a whole list of additional components to go with them. I would build up your suspension one peice at a time and get a nice set of gears. These can be purchased one at a time without having to buy all of them at once. When you are ready for heads and cam you need to have a upgrade fuel system, exhaust system, and most importantly stuff to data log and burn your own chips. You car will be slower with heads and cam without proper tuning and fuel. After three years of modding my car I am just now ready to add a cam. I have my exhaust and suspension and a new fuel pump and access to the stuff to tune with. If I had to do it all over I would still go the same exact route. In fact, I am with my 1995 Z.

your car and mine could be twins!

the only difference is mine's a 5 speed.

i've been modding mine, and am a little further down the road than you are.

1. do the gears first. buying a rearend off ebay is great, but the shipping will kill you. your profile says you're in north carolina. thirdgen resource is in charlotte, they can hook you up easily, if you can't find a rearend at a local salvage yard. in my mind, the only reason to swap the whole rearend, though, is if you want disk brakes. you'd be better off to go with a posi unit and a gear in the rearend you have. i found a zexel-torsen posi with 3.42 gears on ebay for 150 (shipping included). 50 for an installation kit, 250 labor to set the rearend up and 100.00 to calibrate the speedo.

don't go too big on the gear. there's a guy on here named mike crews whose 383 camaro is running 12.20s on street tires with 3.23 gears. i wouldn't go any bigger than a 3.42 if i were you. in my opinion, that's the perfect street/performance gear.

rearend upgrade: 550.00

2. headers and exhaust would be the next big rock. look in the exhaust section. i think the consensus would be the heddman or hooker headers, with the bigger "y" pipe, 3" cat, 3" intermediate and over-axle pipes into a 3" in, dual 2 1/2" out muffler. rather than buying a cat-back, though, look around for an exhaust shop that can do 3" MANDREL bends (mandrel bends don't "crinkle" the pipe at the bends, causing restriction). i found one here and saved a ton of money. the dynomax 3" intermediate and over-axle pipes, for example, were going to be over 200 after shipping, he bent mine for 150. also, don't forget the incidentals. with headers, you'll need 90 degree spark plug wires, you should replace the 02 sensor, etc. i think you'll spend at least 700-800 on exhaust when all is said and done.

exhaust upgrade: 750.00

3. sfcs. i agree, subframe connectors really help the ride and stiffness. look in the classifieds here and on ebay for used ones. i went with dual cats on my car and had to swap out my bolt on sfcs for spohn wel-ins. i'll sell 'em for 75.00 if anyone's interested.

Hey man thanx for your input Id be interested in purchasing you single cat sub frame connectors send me an email at khallman@charter.net

I would only go with weld in SFC's and not buy bolt in ones.

having had both bolt in and weld in sfcs on my car, i disagree with you, and i agree.

if i had the whole exhaust thing to do over, i wou;d've gone with a single 3" cat and welded in my existing sfcs. it would've saved me around 700 bucks.

the spohn sfcs bolt in at the lcas, just like the bolt in sfcs, then you weld them at the rear. you could just as easily do that with the bolt ins.

you then drop a bead at the lip of the body every 6 inches or so the length of the sfc. the fit here isn't great, there are a lot of gaps. i've seen several installs where they made gussets to bridge the gaps, i plan on doing that. you could do the same thing on the bolt in sfcs.

the biggest difference is at the front of the car. the weld in sfcs just have the tubes ending near natural welding spots on the floorboard. the gap is a bit big there and there's not a lot of contact area. the bolt ins, on the other hand, have a huge contact area at the front. you could run a bead around the whole edge and have a real solid, evenly spread distribution area.

i firmly believe my bolt in sfcs would be much more rigid than weld in sfcs if they were both bolted and welded in.

sean send me an email man haha

sean, i am going to have to disagree with you.

the bolt in SFC's i have seen, connect from the rear frame rail (about 8" inside the LCA mount) and tie straight into the tranny tunnel.

the spohns on the other hand run like you descirbe. the stitch welding along the rocker panel is what gives the spohns its great lateral stiffness, that cannot be achived with the bolt in SFCs

dewey, the sfcs i have run essentially the same way the spohn's do, except they're rectangular tubing instead of round. i'll have pics to post later this evening. not sure of the brand.

the only reason i swapped them instead of welding them in was that they interfered with the dual cats.

the dual cats are another sad, story, ha ha ha. i wanted to put an exhaust in that would be able to handle 400+ hp at a later date, knowing it'd probably cost me in torque now with the 305.

the problem is the downpipes from the slp headers are 2 1/4". i step up to 2 1/2" cats, then "y" down to a 3" intermediate pipe.

according to dave at random technology, a single 3" pipe flows as much air as both of the 2 1/4" head pipes, so the dual cats are essentially doing me no good. a single 3" cat would flow as well with this system, and would have cost half the price.

for the pics, go here and click on the "bolton" pics

http://www.crownvicmuscle.com/Sean/