i am looking for a camshaft and manifold combination. would this camshaft work with my stock heads? or would it be way overkill for a 305??? and if anyone could help with a good cam to use in an LO3 with stock heads please help

Adv. Duration: 292°/300°
Duration @ .050'': 232°/234°
Gross Lift: .325''/.325''
Lobe Seps. 108°

That is a pretty big cam. I take it those lift numbers are at the cam and without the added drivetrain ratio. A 1.5 rocker would take that to .487. You will need different heads that can accpet cams with more than .480 lift. You can use your stock heads if you prep them but it would be pointless since they are grabage even when modified.

I spent $ on stock heads-not sure why! but.. it was a mistake, but ohwell! i dont expect the block to last long.
<---lead foot

what would be a good cam ratio and what would be a good manifold to match it that is the cam for the torker 2 intake manifold power package

Don't bother with a cam, until you learn to tune the car.

Now, i have had pretty good luck with a single plane, and an lunati/UltraDyne 272/282 (206/216 .447 .447 112). with stock heads, it is doing pretty good. that is about as big as i would want to go without head work.

would tunig be the reason my gears and headers havnt really gained me any quarter mile time yet? also i sis all the free mods on my throttle body and added an open element

Gears no hedders yes. These cars really need some chip work with a full exhaust to take advantage of it.

what do i need to tune my car to run better with the headers and exhaust

Start with some datalogs to see where improvement is needed.

and where do i get those from

first you need an ALDL cable and Winaldl. for more info check out the tuning article in this forum , and the DIY PROM board. you get datalogs from your ecm via the cable, you can either make your own or buy one.

Sorry I should have been a little more informative than I was. Check out the links that Z28GEN3 posted along with the ones in the "new to TBI" thread at the top of this forum. That should get you started. Data logging is a power full tool and essential when dialing in your TBI car.

my gears (went from 3.08 single traction to 3.42 posi) were worth more than .6 in the 1/4 mile. the headers and exhaust were worth another .1. before you do any more, you need to go back and find out why what you've done hasn't helped. the gears have nothing to do with the tuning and should show at least .3-.4 improvement. the exhaust does have to do with the tune, though. i'm gathering parts for my head/cam swap, but i'm going to get into datalogging and tuning first. i believe there's at least another .5 and 20 hp in the tune with my current setup.

i'm a tuning newbie, too. i'm waiting on two things: the first is for a few more prominators to get out there and worked with by the tuners who know what their doing. the second is for dewey to write his version of "mein kamf", "chip burning for dumbasses".

on the cam you mentioned, shifty is right, the lift is too extreme for the stock heads. i, however, just happen to have a set of world products s/r torquer 305 heads that would work just fine and i'm getting ready to sell those little jewels!

the duration is way too long, too. your tbi works off of a map sensor; it reads manifold vacuum. too much duration will kill the vacuum. when your car is at idle and lower rpms, the map sensor will think you're at a much higher load and will dump in enough fuel to make you a one-man oil embargo (don't know what that means, but it sounded pretty cool).

also, as i understand it, fuel injected cars need an lsa of 112 or greater. i believe the increased overlap of cams with an lsa of less than 112 affects the vacuum at idle and low rmp as well.

if you're going to keep your stock heads (which you shouldn't, they are the worst small block heads chevy ever made), you should look at an lt1 cam.

someone mentioned a set of tpi heads would those be worth getting ahold of for like 50 dollars or something and also how much would you be planning on selling your heads for just wondering

The TPI heads are worth it and can be had for next to nothing. However they too are plagued with the .480 lift limit and same valve size. However, having them prepped for lafger lift cams along with some porting and fitting of larger valves akes them one of the best heads for our cars for about the same price as a new set or Worlds or vortecs.

anotherthing i was just reading about is my throttle body. i modified a throttle body from an 89 rs camaro and took off my 1992 one. i just read that the TPS voltage is lower on the 89 TBI than the 92. i need to find a pigtail for my 92 tps to put the my origional throttlebody back on so i will have the correct voltage. where could i get that pigtail

well i know of a set sitting on a 305 tpi in a junk yard around the corner i think the guy will let me have them for about 50 bucks just making sure before i pick them up

Make sure they are 081 heads. if not you will have to do a little work to them if they are 416's. Both are basically the same but have differences that came out when the 87 heads arrived. Not sure about the TPS. I would just swap your old one if you are unseure. The sensors should still be the same.

im pretty sure the car is an 85. would the heads be the right ones or no?

Those would be 416 heads. They are great heads but not exaclty a bolt on. I would hold out for 081's (87 thru 92) if you want to save some money.

the tpi heads are a nice improvement over the stock l03 heads. probably worth 15 hp right there. before i bought my s/r torquers, that was what i was going to do. best i found a set for was 125.00, and then i was going to have to invest 150-200 in a valve job.

a lot of guys go with vortecs. you can pick up a set at sdpc200.com for less than 500.00 (**** update: it's actually just a bit under 700.00 after shipping ****) that have the seat and spring upgrade to let you run cams with over .480 lift. they use a different-style intake, but you're looking to swap anyway. you'd also have to get a machine shop to disassemble them and mill about .030 to bring the compression back up (vortecs have 64cc combustion chambers, l03's have 58cc chambers). after you mill them, you can also run into some valvetrain geometry issues.

i didn't go this route because i need to have a functional egr and the only intake for tbi on vortecs (with egr) was sold by gmpp, is expensive as hell (350.00), and i heard it flows like crap. it didn't make sense to put great heads on the engine, then choke them down with a bad intake.

it looks like i was wrong on that point, however. there was an article in chevy high performance about this swap a few months back. they got the egr to work (although it was an expensive p.i.t.a.) and made some very impressive preliminary dyno numbers (although they did some serious head porting. the flow numbers they got from those vortecs was amazing). they're supposed to have another installment on this in the issue that comes out in july. i'd suggest you read it.

for someone starting from scratch, i think the vortecs are a good choice. great bang for the buck, and they're probably the best flowing iron heads you can get for a small block chevy. i think a lot of the guys who go with these heads don't get anywhere near the performance they could because they use a puny lt1 cam with them. with these heads and a zz4 or lt4 hot cam, though, i believe you'd scream.

the world products heads i have don't flow anywhere near as well as the vortecs, but flow much better than the tpi heads (or any other stock non-vortec head). I like them because they're egr ready, so there's no grief getting them to work and you can find tons of intakes for them. i picked up a used weiand 7525 on ebay for 75 bucks. a lot cheaper than the 350.00 for the gmpp vortec tbi intake.

my heads are bare, they need springs, retainers and valves. you can pick up cheap ones on ebay for less than 100, probably 150 or so for the world products spec ones. i've just had them cleaned and magnafluxed, they're in perfect shape. they've also had a pocket port job, but i don't have flow numbers on them. i need to get at least 300.00 for them (summitracing.com sells them for 249.95 each, unported, under part number wrl-042650). shipping should be 40-50 bucks.

these make sense for someone who wants to keep their egr functional (and doesn't want to have to go to all the work you have to do to get it to work on vortecs) and who either already has an intake they want to run or who wants to be able to pick one up inexpensively.

the cost comparison is actually pretty good. figure 500.00 for the vortecs from sdpc, 50.00 to have them milled and 350 for the intake. if there are no valvetrain geometry issues, you're looking at 900 bucks less what it costs to get the egr to work.

the s/r torquer 305's would run 350.00 or so after shipping, figure 200 for valves, springs and retainers (you can do it for a lot less) and 100 for a good, used intake on ebay (performer carb intakes with egr go for less than a hundred bucks all day long). you'd have 650 tops in these and your current egr would bolt right up. world products says these heads alone, unported should be worth 35-40 hp.

even if you could pick tpi heads up for 50 bucks, you'd put at least another 150 in a valve job and only pick up 15 hp or so. if you're going to go to all the work of tearing your top end down to replace the heads and cam, you want to get the very best heads you can afford.

I actualy got a chance to sit down, and get started last night. if i can get a few more evenings, it should be done.

shifty,

the more i think about it, the more i have to respectfully disagree with you here.

the tpi heads flow only marginally better than the tbi heads. a tpi 305 makes only 20 - 30 more hp than a tbi, and some of that has to come from the tpi intake system. in stock form, as i understand it, the tpi heads offer our cars about a 15 hp gain.

so, he starts out with a set of tpi heads for 50 bucks. another 50 to have them hot tanked, pressure tested and magnafluxed (if the heads end up being no good, he's out a hundred bucks here).

next, another hundred to have the heads trued, valve guides knurled, new seals, 5-angle valve job, etc. (if there's any more work needed, it'll cost more).

then another 50 to have the seats cut to accomodate cams with more than .480 lift, and at least another 75 for new springs and retainers (that's on the low side).

so now he's got 325 bucks in a set of essentially stock tpi heads, he had to risk losing a hundred bucks if those junkyard heads ended up being cracked or warped and if there are guides and/or valves that need to be replaced he could have easily ended up with another 50-150 in them.

and they still don't flow that well. now he has to get them ported. 200 bucks for just a pocket port and bowl cleanup that might, might, barely get them to flow what the s/r torquer 305s flow, but certainly not what the vortecs will.

so now he's at 525.00 (at least), had to risk losing a hundred bucks if the heads hadn't been any good, had to risk putting more money into them if something was wrong, and has a used set of heads with used, stock valves.

he can buy a set of upgraded vortecs, shipped to his door, for under 700.00 (i was low on that price last night).

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...=3129&pid=9063

they flow better than he could ever hope to get those 081s to flow, every component on them is brand new and they have a warranty. another 50.00 at the machine shop to have the disassembled and cut 0.30 and he now has 750 in them. are the vortecs worth two hundred and twenty five bucks difference over the 081s? i think so.

the other difference would be the intake. the performer tbi intake goes for around 225, the gmpp tbi vortec intake is 309.95

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...d=737&pid=8154

so, after intake we're realistically talking about a difference of 325.00. 300. is it worth 325 bucks more to have a setup that'll easily tune out to over 225-230 rwhp?

the only way the 081s make sense is if he has access to inexpensive machine work and can do the porting himself.

by the way, check out their vortec tbi head kit. comes with heads, the gmpp tbi intake, head bolts, intake bolts, all gaskets, etc ... even the kit to make the egr work with headers. it's a real bargain at 1059.95.

http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...2172&pid=89536

oops, one more point.

i forgot that you have to upgrade those tpi heads to larger valves.

110.00 (+ shipping) for a set of manley stainless "budget" 1.94/1.50 valves from summitracing.com

at least another 100.00 at the machine shop to have them installed.

the difference between the 081s and the vortecs (including intakes) is now a hundred and five bucks.

But remember,
to keep his compression stock, he's either gonna have to get the combustion chamber milled to 58cc or smaller, or swap out the pistons, but you would hould have to be smokin to change the pistons in a 305.

Also, for the egr kit to work, the headers cant be ceramic coatic.

Sean you make a very convinsing argument and I didn't mean to misslead anyone to thinking that they should just bolt a set on without the prep work. You are right that there is a lot of risks involved and that is one thing that you will have to deal with. You want to take the steps you described to make sure you have a good set. They are a perfect alternative if you cannot afford worlds or vortecs however. Even though the vortecs flow so much better and you get the 700 buck ones that are ready to go with whatever cam you want you would still want to consider having them milled. Also, I have been reading a lot of horror stories of the assebmled worlds falling apart and people having to get the bare ones and start all over. That added expense might not be for everyone. Plus getting a set of used vortec heads will require the same machine and prep work. The vortec and world heads are better indeed hands down but for budjet buildups the 081's can really make a difference. That is the main reason why I stress them to others who are considering cheaper ways to rid themselves of the swirl ports. I almost snagged a set for free last week.

i allowed for that ... "50.00 to have the machine shop disassemble the heads and mill the 0.30".

also i wouldnt be using the tbi intake so i would be saving money onthe intake but hearing of the heads falling apart would i be better off buying bare heads and getting all the internals and doing them myself i have acces to vave seat grinders and a (cheap) machine shop the only thing i cant get ahold of is a flow bench.

saying cheap i mean price probably almost free not cheap half *** work

i've never heard of world products heads "falling apart". there's a guy in the gafba with an early third gen firebird running a carbed 305 who has world products s/r 305s and is running high 12s, low 13s. i also know several other guys running the world products torquer and sportsmen heads on 350s and 383s who are very happy with them. world products is owned by bill mitchell, the guy whose "hardcore" big-inch small and big block crate engines you see all over the place now.

the heads i have are bare and need no machine work. i just had them hot tanked, shot peened, magnafluxed and pressure tested, and they've already been pocket ported. a set of manley replacement stainless valves is right at 111.00 from summit racing (man-10576-8, intake and man-10577-8 exhaust) and a crane valve spring and retainer kit (crn-11308-1) is 97.88. all you'd have to do is lap the valves and assemble the heads, although i'd recommend spending 20 bucks or so to have a 3 or 5 angle cut put on the valves. if you have access to a machine shop as you say, this should be no big deal. you'd have less than 550.00 in a set of heads that sell for 750.00. you can save at least another hundred bucks if you shop around for the valves, springs and retainers.

for my money, the best intake for a 305 tbi is a weiand 7525. it's an egr-ready single plane intake. since tbi's aren't sensitive to "pulsing" as carbs are, there is no torque loss from the single plane design, and the plenum volume helps it breathe up top. it also fits unser a stock hood. i just set up a saved search on ebay for "weiand 7525". within two weeks i had one for 75.00