Ok, I want to rebuild my 305. It will remain TPI. It is a '89 engine. My car is a '85 with '85 ecm and harness. I want to upgrade to the '86-'89 ecm cause i do have '86 ecm sitting around.

1. Can a person with decent mechanic skills rebuild an engine?
2. Could it be done in week if I worked all day, every day?
3. What tools are needed?
4. What would machine work cost?
5. While rebuilding I figure I'd put in a new cam, do some intake porting, maybe have the heads ported(I dont want to do it myself, not confident with grinding the heads myself), and put on some headers and y-pipe. Would this cause a sizable power increase that would necessitate driveline and suspension work? My tranny was rebuilt in Spring 2002.
6. What would you definitly replace?
7. What would you try to reuse?
8. Estimate on cost if all new parts are used?
9. Rough estimate of cost with what I have told you so far?
10. Forged parts? I dont plan on running boost, maybe a 100-150 shot of nitrous though.

Any tips/advice? I have a haynes and chiltons manual and read on the procedures and such, but I dont trust those books. Had some bad expierence with them.

Thanks,

Matt

Oh, i searched too, i found some answers, but the ones i couldnt find are up there.

 

call machine shops and parts stroes in in your area for prices or look in mail order catalogs since prices vary. for me i'm lucy yo get something in and back from a machine shop in less than 3 weeks so that screws your 1 week idea. you'd need mics, bore gage, indicators, hone, torque wrench, degree wheel, ring expander & compresser, hone, cam bearing tool, number stamps among other things to do it. some you can get buy without if you let a shop do part of the work. replace only what fails ijnspection after tear down. i wouldn't reuse a timing chaine gear set or oil pump even if they were just put in yesterday. get a solid oil pump drive shaft

 

One thing I would definately replace is the shortblock.

Let me explain:

Rebuilding the lower end of a 305 is not cost effective from a $/HP perspective. I say that in spite of all that I've done around my shortblock (see sig).

Add down-time to that, as ede says, and you've got a "situtation" on your hands that easily justifies my recommendation. Get a 350 core, shortblock or longblock, and rebuild it. Depending upon what heads the 350 may have, you might even want to use your 305 heads on it with the work you described, plus 1.94" intake valves.

Going that route will reduce your down-time, produce much better HP results when finished, and not cost any more than rebuilding your 305 would cost (depending upon how much you pay for the 350 core, and how much you can get out of your 305). Believe it or not, 305 rebuild parts either cost the same or more that 350 parts, never less.

 

Sorry for taking so long to get back. Thanks for the advice.

Rebuilding an engine in the side makes perfect sense!

I think I can get a 350 block for free if my buddy still has it. He got married and moved out of his house and the block was sitting in the garage, so i dont know if its still there or not. I also dont know what year block it is. I know its been sitting there for a while so it will have to be cleaned up.

So, if i rebuild the 350, how much more would it cost to just turn it into a 383 since I'll already have the engine apart.
One thing though, I want to remain fuel injected, TPI would choke the 383 wouldn't it?

I'm looking for enough power to beat most cars on the street.

I want to keep cost down cause i still need to do body work, also SFC's are needed.

Maybe it would be easier/cheaper to get a car with a good body, but missing engine/drivtrain, or wrecked engine drivtrain, then drop in the new engine with the rest of my stuff from my current car into the new one?

Thanks,

Matt