Hey thirdgen'ers, I've recently moved to a new town and got a decent paying job. I finally can afford to put money into my car again, but I don't know where to start. I need REAL advice from people who know what there talking about. I've read threads upon threads and done a lot of homework, but I still don't know where to start. I've heard I should start with intake and exhaust but I don't know wich ones are compatible with my car. Also, whatever I end up doing, I would have to be able to finish on the weekends. I work all day everyday during the week, so time is of the essence. Please, I'm open to any and all advice, I've saved up plenty of money to start the build but with my current schedule and knowledge of performance builds, I could use all the help I can get.

Thanks everyone,
Matt1821

 

Unless you are gonna do easy mods, I'd have a 2nd form of transportation, believe me, you don't want to rush a cam or head job b/c you need it to run for work on monday.
I'd get a good used vortec 350 engine, a tbi vortec intake, headers, & a cat back exhaust. You need to get a set of 350 injectors & an adj. fuel press regulator.

 

And unless you get into custom chip tuning, anything you do will not be greatly noticed, and thus a major disappointment, not to mention loss of your current gas savings - best to save for a 350 in my opinion.

 

I would start by getting a handle on tuning & tweaking your stock setup.

That way you get the basics under your belt & get the most out of your current setup.

It is far easier to learn to tune with a stock configuration of parts & programming.

Improving your engine will require tuning at some point so...

http://www.dynamicefi.com/EBL_Flash.php

&
Get some fuel pressure monitoring gear, make your regulator adjustable & decide what kind of wideband o2 setup you want.

Each of these important additions can be done independently and in a weekend's time. Not to mention burn some of that extra cash you've got.

 

Yup someday ill start custom tuning. You really need to outline your goals with the project. What do u wanna do. How fast do you want to go. Etc. I agree on the 2nd car. But did you mean you can only work on the car on weekends because you work all week? Or because you need the car during the week?

 

Thanks for the replys everyone. Undercover89, I need my car to get to and from work during the week and I really wouldn't have time to do it as I work 12 hour days. But I get weekends off, so I guess maybe a 2nd car is in my future, but it seems like a waste of money to buy another car when I want a nicely tuned powerful daily driver.

My most recent "lady friend" has a pretty nice mustang gt that she said I could borrow anytime. I'm not a FORD guy, but it hauls ***, sounds mean, n looks nice. Wouldn't mind drivin it around for a little while. Haha

 

That's exactly why we all have beaters - any $400 piece of transportation to get us to/from work - so we can have our 'project' on stands for weeks at a time.

 

well if she says you can use that car you can plan on bigger uptakings int he garage. If you rush you make mistakes. Mistakes can cost $$$ that you wanna spend on something else. Not wise. Way better to be more deliberate about it. My car is my daily and my only car. But I have friends I can borrow cars from so I dont absoultely trip about it.

 

You can get an open element air cleaner cheap and do it your self easily.

Get headers and a full exhaust to support future mods. Something like Hooker 2055's and 3 inch catback.

Your car will run much better and you can do that stuff without tuning.

 

BlueRS, that's the kind of stuff I was looking for. I only have maybe an hour to work on my car before work aside from the weekends. I wanna know what kind of headers/exhaust/cat etc I should get first.

 

Personally for an exhaust setup, I'd go with the Hawks/Stainless Works LT header and offroad Y pipe combo, split it back into 2 with a 3" to dual 2.5" Y collector, and have an exhaust shop fab up the rest of a 2.5" system with Borla Stinger mufflers out back.







Then you'd have a nice exhaust setup that wouldn't be ridiculously loud, yet offer the scavenging of long tube headers, the flow of an offroad Y pipe, and the flow of a straight through muffler.

But on a 305, that sort of flow would be useless. They don't take enough in to have a need to flow that much out. Honestly if I were you, I'd pick up a new daily driver, and to keep it cheap, swap in an L98 or LT1. If you've got lots of $$$, an LS1 swap. A nice full exhaust setup wouldn't exactly be worth it on a TBI 305, but it's a starting point.

 

Forgot to mention, look into a shift kit if you have an automatic. They can easily be installed in less than a day if you know what you're doing, or have some help. Transgo makes some nice stuff.

http://www.transgo.com/sk_generalmtrs.php

That's something that would actually let you see a noticeable difference. They really clean up the sloppy shifts of a stock 700R4.

 

 

in other words, the basic stuff that's been beaten to death on any car forum, including this one so you must have missed all of those threads when you were "researching" ?

you aren't going to get a barn burner out of a 305 TBI but you can make it inhale/exhale better

it sounds like you don't want to get into internals (kind of a waste anyway)

so, you are left with the basic headers, cat back and open element air cleaner


catback- dynomax has a $75 rebate right now. If streetsideauto has them, you could end up with a decent exhaust system for about $120 shipped to your door. That is crazy cheap.

If streetside doesn't have them in stock, then jegs or summit for about $20-$30 more (shipping and process fee)

next up, headers and y pipe

shorties are the way to go and you don't need anything else for that engine

hedmans and y pipe again can be had inexpensively at streetside

you'll also need decent exhaust gaskets so get percys seal 4 good or mr gasket dead soft aluminum

as for intake, an open element air cleaner for around $25

be sure that your headers have a bung for the o2 or have one welded prior to starting the job.

since you'll be ripping out the old exhaust, a sawzall is your friend. Don't waste your time trying to unbolt the old pipes and y pipe

while the old manifolds are off it's a good time for new spark plugs and then new wires once the headers are on. A new cap and rotor would be a good thing too. Then, stop running 87 octane and use 89 or 91/93 and you can advance your timing.


what will you need?

timing light
distributor wrench
socket sets
combination wrenches
jack stands or ramps
some scrap 2x4 for behind the rear wheels and for when you list the engine you put a chunk under the oil pan
floor jack and a bottle jack
sawzall
pb blaster or liquid wrench (soak ex manifold bolts)
a drill and some bits (drill hole in open element air cleaner for sensor)
12-16 gallons of good gasoline in your tank

understanding- this isn't rocket science and a gazillion people have done this before you so there is nothing to fear

most important thing you will need, and pay close attention. GOOD HEADER GASKETS. I'm not talking the junk that comes with the headers or Felpro gaskets. You are going to pay $30-$40 for either Percys Seal-4-Good dead soft aluminum or Mr Gasket dead soft aluminum gaskets. Your heads have imperfections as will the headers.

Or, you can keep tightening your header bolts thinking it will stop the exhaust leak (it won't)