before i get 15 replys telling me to use the search button ive read a couple threads and im still a little unsure. i dont want to buy new heads, im only 17 and have spent more money on rebuilding this engine, new tranny and body than i wanted. i wanted to know what, if any, is the best heads to take off of another car and bolt on to my tbi, keeping all the valves and springs. any help is appreciated

 

Welcome aboard. Your question is a commonly asked one but is often answer incorrectly. Before we select a set of heads we need to know a few things about your car as it stands right now. What other mods do you have? What are your power goals and what is your budget? The stock TBI heads can flow around 165cfm on the intake and support near 300hp in untouched form. The stock 305 LO3 engine has many bottleneck that prevent power from being made. The wimpy air intake, exhaust manifolds and cam are the biggest power robers. The heads are not. Being 17 and having what I would guess to be a modest budget I would stick to the basic mods. Focus on fixing any problem that the car may have now (busted tranny mounts, bushings, bad tires or other suspension components). If all is up to snuff I would start with the exhaust and replace the entire system from the engine to the tailpipe using aftermarket pieces/kits tailored for '86+ TPI equipped cars. From there I would look into some do it yourself PROM tuning in order to self educate your self on the necessary computer work that is needed when undertaking a heads and cam swap. The heads and cam are basically the last components that should be changed on your motor when you are starting out bone stock.

 

well so far it has edelbrock headers and a flowmaster dual exhaust, an open element edelbock intake and the whole engine was rebuilt by me and a friend, everything mechanically is up to par, right now its just body to worry about, but i have to wait to paint it thanks to road salt in new england. im not looking for a 500hp engine, but id like to make it a little bit faster than what it is now. and id love to do the self chip burning, but from what i know its very expensive to do and after reading some of the sticky im still lost in how to do it. and what about the 2 injectors on a TBI, is it worth putting better ones in or not

 

LOL, If you have access to a laptop and consider less than $300 expensive, it is expensive.

Home Built ALDL cable, including soldering iron = $15
Moates Burn 1 = $85
Moates G2 Adapter = $40
Flash chips = $5.00 ea

Not that expensive, if you have access to a laptop

I would recomeend picking up a junkyard ECM to solder the adapter into. That will leave you your stock one running in case something goes haywire.

BTW, this is probably the best $300.00 you will spend on a stock TBI vehicle.