Hi, i have a 305 sitting in my garage on an engine stand, its a 305 TBI it's the old motor out of my 91 T/A Convertible

i want to wake this motor up alittle then put it into another T/A or camaro in the near future,

what does everyone suggest?

my price range would be around free, to 1000$

ive heard about installing an LT1 cam?

can you install a LS1 cam in these motors?

i just want some decent HP and TQ without spending alot,

do they have aftermarket TBI intakes? id like to keep this a TBI motor and not carb'd

Thanks, Bob

back when my car was 2 years old I had a Flowmaster cat back system ,headers and a super chip installed and it made a big differance well worth the $800 bucks I spent

exhaust
port and polish the heads
Nitrous

** a stall as well

Edelbrock makes a performer tbi intake manifold. I have this along with a 1"tbi spacer.. and my 305 has great thottle response.

Agreed with the above posts.. also a nice set of 3.73 gears in the rearend will put a nice smile on ur face

LT headers, cam, and nitrous along with a stall and gears will put you in the low 13's or high 12's depending on your car...

performance exhaust. headers. performance chip. adjust the timing. change the air induction (meaning air cleaner to open element or some sort of cold air induction) I guess your almost at 1000 after these.

Then later when you want to put more $ into it. Upgrade the heads, throw a different cam at it, and change the intake at the same time. Also a bored and ported throttle body. Upgrade fuel pump.

Then you'll want to get into custom tuning.

In between there throw in a vigilante torque converter, change your rear end gears to 3.23, 3.42, 3.73.

If your still nto happy, supercharger or nitrous.

What does changing your timing actually do? I haven't had the chance to ask my brother.

Probably nitrous with an EBL flash. Not sure maybe a used aftermarked exhaust could fit in the budged too.

Our stock timing is 0 degrees. Basically straight up. By advancing the timing to 6 degrees you get some more take off power and bottom end oomph.

I agree totally with the timing advance. Mine is at 6*and it made allot of difference. Much more responsive with a better pull and its free. If it knocks(spark knock) at 6*move it to 4* also you can you can use a mid. grade gasoline."89 Octane" (that's what I do)

Honestly with a grand you're not going to get very far. I have about that much in my rear diff by itself. My car now without the giggle juice is in the mid 13 second catagory but I'm in DESPERATE need of a stall. I have a $580 dollar 3200 EGDE stall going in once my $600 dollar Probuilt road race kit goes in in the trans. If you start on one end of the car I promise you when you get done there you'll have to build up another part to make use of what you've just done. it's a never ending cycle man. Here's a break down of what I've spent SO FAR. Granted these prices are through the years and have changed a bit, plus I'm not even going to add the amount I've spent in R&D alone.

I'll start from the rear and work my way up.......

Rear:
$180 V6 3:42 rear from the junkyard
$200 3:42 Richmond gears ( been sitting on my shelf for years, still brand new)
$275 26 spline moser axles
$475 Eaton posi unit
$125 summit diff cover
$100 for fluids,gaskets and seals
$40 dollars for solid pinion spacer

Rough total $1395


Drivetrain/Transmission
$25 Aluminum driveshaft (I got lucky from the local pick and pull)
$60 B&M Shift Kit
$126 Transgo kit (still sitting on my shelf for the last 5 years)
.15 cent 3-4 downshift eliminator
$580 3200 EDGE stall
$600 Probuilt Road race rebuild kit
$400 it's going to cost me to have it built
$12 Sonnax TV Cable kit

Rough total $1815

Suspension/Chassis/Brakes/Tires:

$225 Eibach springs (don't have anymore)
$185 Alston SFC's form TDS (Lon is the man!!!)
$479 Ground Control Weight Jack kit (worth EVERY f$#@ing penny)
$315 Full MOOG front end rebuild kit.
$120 Sensa-trac shocksand struts from NAPA ( Jesus these things suck)
$100 Aluminum drums for the rear for weight savings.
$300 For Nitto NT555r Radials ( again worth every penny)
$1000 17x8 front and 17x9.5 rear ROH Snypers (to me the PREMIER wheel for a Thirdgen)
$50 S10 manual steering box
$400 in Energy Suspension bushings and BMR adjustable Panhard bar, LCA's and LCARB's
$375 UMI adjustable torque arm

Rough total $3549

Engine:
$160 for Comp roller tip rockers both 1.6 and 1.5
$180 Proform electric water pump
$350 Edelbrock TBI intake ( also included was the cost for boring 50mm)
$100 ZZ4 cam off Ebay
$675 for ported ZZ4 heads with all new hardware
$60 GM single row timing set
$775 in exhaust total. ported,welded and coated Hooker 2055's with Aerochamber 3 inch Catback.
$600 March Mid mount pulley set up. (ended up only using HALF of the damn kit, spent way to much damn money on this)
$180 Xtremefi 46mm TBI unit ( that I don't even use)
$200 in fluids, gaskets and seals

Rough total $3280

Tuning:
$475 EBL Flash
$380 Zeitronix WB with Controller
$100 TBI Chips "stage 1" chip. I needed it before I got the EBL, worked "ok" but not the best.


So as you can see a grand just doesn't cut it,lol. Trust me, now that I'm building a Forged 383 Single plane EFI LT1 expect the budget to go up a hell of alot more,lol.

Yup they get damn expensive. I always keep eyes open for deals now that I will eventually use later

some v6 third gen camaros come stock with 3.42 rears and they bolt right in to the v8 cars.

+1 for 342 rear, but do you know how to weld? What are the emissions laws where you are?

Nothing crutches crappy heads and low displacement better than a turbo!! If you dont need to run much in the way of emissions equipment theres plenty of room to plumb one in... Dunno bout this car, but on old v8's ive seen decent turbo kits come together for 600$. Theres junkyard and chinese low cost IC options, and really its more about how involved u wana get and how much boost u realistically wanna run than can u do it. (if you can cut measure and weld)

Id run 5 or 6 psi and be happy

Cant see a diy turbo for a thirdgen costing much more than a grand, and you'd get big block levels of torque. Wouldnt even need the rear end, lazy gears help turbos spool

Do a search, ppl have done lots of turbo 305s. laggy single turbos and torquey V8's are made for each other.

"Waking up" a 305 is kinda like "military intelligence" - neither makes any sense.

Sell the 305, get a good 350, and play with it. Doesn't cost anymore to play with a 350 vs. a 305, and although you have the 305 already and it's free, you've got what you paid for - nothing.

At least don't spend any money on anything for the 305 that cannot be transferred to a 350, as that certainly is a waste.

ive got a 350 in the car already, im trying to build up a 305 for another car im planning on getting, all great ideas, thanks for everything, and i dont know how to weld at all, but a turbo does sound nice. if anyone has any freebies or anything else let me know.....i cant really find any cheap parts out here, iplus being 17 doesnt help the wallet any,

i need anything performance wise i can get my hands on,


i was thinking of the timing thing myself, id like to do that but dont wana **** up anything... its a really nice motor and along with my car,......

dont get me wrong i know my **** when it comes to third gens, but if i **** something up and dont know how to fix it i normally dont getanyone to help me correct it for about a month so i try and learn as much as possible before i dive in, that way theres less of a chance that i screw up,.....



oh and for emissions, im in michigan, they care more about scratching their ***** then do emissions out here lol, so there arent any hahah

+1 for this. I lol'd. Wondering if this is meant to be a Megadeth quote? They said something a lot like that in Hanger 18, and it's one of my favorite lines of all time. Maybe I'm not the only old school metalhead around here? I can hope.
But staying on topic, I do like this whole thread. I bought a 305 to put in my 91 firebird (not for the top performance, I know very well that the 350 is much better, but I'm trying to help myself a little bit on gas use with the outrageous prices these days) and it is nice to have a little list of what kind of upgrades I can do to make it a little more fun to drive.

Nope old school Metalhead is present and accounted for!! lol Rust in Piece was AWESOME!!! ok now back to topic,lol

If you advance the timing, the computer won't try to compensate and retart it?

Only if it senses a knock and even that is limited. Trust me you want 6 degrees on the l03

So if I were to run mid grade or premium with 6 degrees advance, I could see a notisable improvement?

It takes 10 mins to change your timing go out there and do it and tell me if you dont feel a difference. Run regular for all I care fuel wise! That's what I do. For the 11 years ive owned the car and the 6 years or so that ive been running advanced timing

I honestly haven't messed around with a timing gun since the late 70's. I loosen the distributor, and move it clockwise to advance?
I thought it stands to reason that advanced timing could cause detonation, and higher octane would be necessary.

You have to disconnect the EST connector for the timing first which on MY car is located on the passenger side of engine compartment near blower motor. Its a 1 wire connector. That turns on the check engine light. Then you time as neccesary.

I'll give it go.

I found this on a old thread concerning timing. Here's how they said to set it and a photo of the EST connection.=
Disconnect the EST wire, start car, adjust timing, shut off car , reconnect EST wire.
and heres the photo.

good work Ronus. That is it.