i just got a slightly used Edelbrock Performer TBI intake and some 081 305 TPI heads with 103K miles off ebay for $280 shipped which isnt that bad considering a new tbi intake shipped is already $230. These will probably be going on my car at the end of March (spring break).
With the mods in my sig my car runs very well. I know if i was just to install the intake i would not need any special tuning except for maybe some base timing and fuel pressure adjustments. But what about the heads, do they flow that much better than TBI heads and require PROM tuning, or could i get away with just some timing and fuel pressure adjustments with my tbichips.com stage 1 chip.
I know custom tuning is always the best way to go, im just wonder if anyone has had any experience with this setup and how it ran. Also, i am still using the stock peanut cam with 1.6 rocker arms which give me a wopping .373/.411 lift with 180*/195* of duration.
I really excited about these new parts....anyone wish to guess what i should be running in the quarter mile. My previous best was 14.791 @ 91.11 w/ 2.068 60' and that time is without the intake, heads, new tranny or torque converter. Im hoping for a possible 14.4xx.

 

might even throw in a new camshaft....vortec cam, specs: .410/.424 202/206 115* w/1.5 rockers. Ill get a new timing chain and change the springs also, and they should all swap over to an L98 shortblock that i plan on building up to go into the car.....just a mild CA emission legal 350.

 

I may be wrong, but....I don't think the bolt pattern on that intake and those heads will match. But, I'm pretty sure it won't line up. Don't quote me on that.

As for the cam...I've got something a little bit hotter that you might be intrested in. It's a 94 LT1 cam out of a Trans Am. I believe the lift is something like .450/.460 and the duration is something like 21X/22X.

Shoot me a PM with an offer if intrested.

 

the heads will work, they are from a 88 Trans Am, 081 casting. In other words they are centerbolt heads just from a TPI engine and they will work. You are probably thinking about the 416 HO heads that were used with pre 87 engines. I might just wanna go with a very mild camshaft for the 305 because i dont wanna do any extreme tuning and the cam specs are pretty similar to a L98 cam. If i can only get a caprice cop car PROM modified for a 305 i should be fine. STill debating on whether or not to cam it, i do have 163K miles but it does run really strong right now.

 

You have a potentially great set-up. Yea those heads will work fine but they will really ad the power when you port them. Stock form they are better than the TBI ones but nothing to write home to mom about. Porting them makes them leaps and bounds over other off the shelf heads. I would throw a cam in there while you are at it. It will literally be only a few more bolts to get it out. Plus you are going to need a different chip anyway you look at it. Your car would run with a mild mild cam like the vortec one you listed but you will have driviability issues and horrible fuel ecomnomy. Just look at Dewey316 who has stock heads and cam and picked up over a full second on his ET's by data logging and changing the stock chip. That just shows you how bad the stock tune is for a pretty much bone stock LO3 (minus cat-back at the time I think). You can may actually run slower with the heads and cam if you do not change chips. I have seen it happen to one of my buddies.

 

Forgot to mention that with the cam and heads you may be at the limit of your stock fuel pump and TBI size. it may be time to update to a walbro pump and look into a 454 or holley 670 unit. You will find out when you stomp on the gas and it won't pull past 4500rpm, and this is with a tune.

 

vjo90RS8


I think you should go ahead and see how it will run with the chip that you have and then play with fuel pressure and timing to begin with. But...as Shifty says it really needs to be tuned with the program to be the best it can be.

And go for a cheap cam like the one BadBlue91RS has. It will work great. That is unless you have money to burn.

I agree with porting them also. It will help. I have a set of those to swap on mine to replace the Vortecs. (donated to a 350 project)

 

im still debating on the cam swap, i plan on swapping in a new L05 within the next year and a half so i dont know if i should put money into the cam swap or just save for the 350 (new 91-93 roller L05). I do want to freshen up my engine though, along with the heads and intake i was thinking about changing my timing chain....you might say since all that stuff is already off your engine you might as well swap cams. But my real concern is swapping in a cam and having it run like **** and not being able to tune it.
oh yeah, the GM vortec camshaft that i described is only $50 brand new. So basically my only concern is with the tuning.

 

Well I think that you are going to have drivability problems even with all of your mods and the new heads on the stock cam. So you might as well have the same problems with a bigger cam so that when you do tune you won't have to tear everything down again for the cam. You may want to look at a used LT1 cam. It will make more power than that vortec cam and can be had for possibly less than what the vortec cam costs.

 

yeah, i had an LT1 cam but i sold it because i didnt think that i was going to install it. I think the vortec cam would work good because i have 1.6 rocker that i can use with it which would put me very close to the LT1 cam. And do you really think the heads will need alot of tuning, i figured they would work good with the chip that i have and some fuel pressure/timing adjustments.

If i can get a bin from someone that has an L98 camshaft that should work pretty good.

 

Dude....$20 for the cam, you pay shipping ($14.00). You'll be much happier with it over the vortec and stock L98 cam.

BTW the 94 Trans Am it came out of had 63k miles when it was yanked and the ONLY reason he took it out was to LT4 hot cam the **** outta the motor.

 

wow, guess i didnt realize he picked up that much!

congrats, you've all just convinced me to make tuning my summer project instead of head porting...

-chuck

ps, i've also read that the lt1 cam is very easy to tune with. Dunno about the vortec cam, something you might want to consider.

 

Yes there is a trmendous amout to be gained even with a completely stock set-up. The stock bin IS that bad and can barely support the car when it is bone stock no less modded. The LT1 cam is pretty easy to tune and the vortec would be as well. Both are mild FI cams that have mild numbers with great LSA's for tuning.

 

very tempting but i dont know if i want to deal with the tuning, i dont want my car to run like ****.
I will be installing my parts during my spring break and right after that i gotta drive 250 miles back to school and probably wont be home for another month or so, i dont wanna have a car that runs worse with the cam than it did without. I might just go ahead and change my heads and intake and possibly the timing chain, but i think ill leave the cam alone unless i find someone that can give me a chip that will work with the setup.
My car is pretty quick right now for a stock L03 engine, i see people that have heads, cam, and a new intake and they run slower than i do, i dont want to be one of those people. I think the heads and intake will just need minimal tuning that can be satified with fuel pressure and timing or throw in my stage 2 chip that i got from tbichips.com
ive been thinking about it all day and going back and forth, cam swap, no cam swap, so unless i am almost gauranteed it will run good after a new cam, i dont think imma do it. I should just wait til i get a 350 before i start messing with PROM burning, i really dont want to put to much into this 305 right now.
The only reason i really want to do the intake and heads is because the will give me alittle more performance and i really want to change my 163K mile heads, intake, gaskets, and timing chain, i want my engine to run good for the next year and a half and if i dont get a 350 by then i will be graduating college next march or june so i will need a somewhat reliable car to get me to work.
I wish i could just make up my mind but you guys are help alot so keep the post going, and someone finally come forth with that magical chip that will make me decide to throw in a cam.

 

also i cant even get my computer set up for WinALDL, i dont have a serial port in my computer so i bought a USB to serial adaptor and i couldnt get it to work and im pretty sure the circuit was right (im an electrical engineering student). maybe when i go home for presidents day weekend i can mess with it again and try to get it working. If i was keeping to 305 for a long time i would go for the cam swap no problem, i just dont want to spend a bunch of money trying to tune it and being uphappy with the results if i can never get it to run correctly. Ill know for sure in about a month when i find out how much money i actually have by then.

 

Well you are very smart in your thinking and you are right on track that this is not a plug and play thing. You will see that burning your own chips isn't that hard. I feared it for 3 years and now I am getting into it. There really isn't much to it. If it doesn't work, change some things until it does. However, what you can do is go ahead and do the cam and just datalog. Then you can send that to someone with similar mods to you that burns chips or some poeple like Ed Wright at fast chips, or that brian dude at TBI chips.com and have them make one for you. It won't be the best but it will make your car completely drivable and you will have GOBS more power with your new set-up. A stock chip will just dial you in even more and make every parameter of your car work in combination with your mods specific to your set-up. That is whats makes the differnce between a high 14's heads and cam LO3 versus a low 14's heads and cam LO3.

 

yeah, that is what i was thinking, i just gotta make sure i can get my labtop working and start data logging, i dont understand y its not working but im sure i can figure it out. That is the deciding factor now i guess, whether or not i can get that working.

 

If you can get that working I'd say now would be the best time to start getting into the Prom tuning. You said you're going to swap in a 350 in about a year; you'll be much happier next year if you already know a decent amount about tuning and have done it before rather than starting new with a completely different engine than the stock tune was made for. That may be just asking for problems and it might end up being a bear for you to tune.

 

ill probably get into the prom burning this summer, cant afford all the stuff right now. If i can get my computer and WinALDL working then i might throw in a cam and have someone like the guy from tbichips.com burn me a cheap chip just to get it running ok.

 

Have u thought of a manual tranny swap? Im leaning that way before i swap in a 350. I mean even my sister can drive an automatic so its kinda embarrassing for me.
I figure once u get a 6 speed in, u can run 4.11's and a pretty healthy cam and still be streetable while getting good gas mileage on the highway.

 

i was thinking about doing a T56 swap but i got a really good deal on a ProBuilt Street/Strip tranny and ACT 9.5" 2400 stall torque converter, a deal i definately couldnt pass up.

 

well, looks like ill be keeping my stock heads. I wanted the guy who sold me the heads on ebay to verify that they were indeed from a 88 Trans Am 305 TPI car before i sent him the money. He just emailed me and said they were 416s (pre 87 HO heads), so to hell with that. What made me question the heads was the fact that there are 3 current autions on ebay, 2 say they are selling 305 TPI HO heads but they are 187 castings and we all know those are our crappy TBI heads, and another is selling some 810 TBI truck heads and are claiming that they are L98s. Kinda sucks, i sent them all emails to let them know what they were actually selling.
Looks like just the intake is going on and maybe a new timing chain. I dont want to mess with the cam because i dont want to put new valve springs on my old 187 heads. Looks like i should just save up for the 350 now.

 

Blessing in disguise my friend.
Why spend the money on 305 heads when your planning on swapping in a 350 soon?
Use the money u were gonna spend on tuning equipment u will need. Start on your current setup to get a feel for it so youll be nice and ready to start tuning once that 350 gets in.

 

Yeah, if i can get my laptop to work with WinALDL then i might get the PROM stuff at the beginning of summer and start learning. I really want to get that L05 in by the end of the summer but we'll see.