I am going to be building a roller cam 305 for my trans am, I will be using the stock feedback rochestor, and probably a edelbrock manifold an edelbrock tes headers

My questions are these, what would be a good cam for this to get decent power yet stay legal, vacuum is important since my car uses a map sensor, my original 305 was 9.5:1 compression so what kind of heads would be a good choice to maintain this compression yet have internal egr passages in them, I'm not really interested in aluminum heads, a ported set of iron heads will be what I have planned, my original motor was 190HP so I'm looking for quiet a bit more, say around 250, but can a good combination make a 305 put out this kind of power yet be totally legal.

Lets not turn this into a more displacement thread, or flaming the 305

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...53#post1565753
Passing Colorado emissions has been much harder for me than it ever was in San Diego - although I no longer have any of the cars (except the '57) that I had in SD, and it's been 9 years since I moved.

How do you plan on building the "roller cam 305"? By using a factory roller block, or by retrofit rollers in your block? I know of computer-compatible factory-type roller cams, but not retrofit. I suppose you could special order one, though.

Your sig doesn't quite add up. Have you added TPI to your engine? Or, swapped in a TPI engine?

If you use newer model engine/system, you're going to be subject to the newer model equipment and emissions requirements.

Based on demonstrated drag strip ET & MPH (with a not-fully-healthy transmission), using NHRA sea level conversion factors and generally accepted ET/MPH->HP formulas, mine is putting about 250 HP to the rear wheels (at sea level). That would be more difficult to do with TPI, however.

 

Your 82 motor was originally 145 HP, and wasn't roller, and didn't have 9.anything compression. It would help if you told us what you really are starting out with.

Assuming it's the 82 motor: it already has (came with anyway) about the best heads there are for the application at hand, out of the various stock ones. They would be 416 castings. Of course, a 82 LG4 also has dished pistons, which you need to get rid of; put in some Sterling hypereutectic flat tops.

When I lived in Carlsbad, I built a 305 based on my original L69, with the original carb & distributor and intake; I used a Comp XR264HR-12. It sailed right through inspection. I also used the pistons I mentioned, and had TES. I had an old set of double-hump heads instead of the 305 heads though.

It did 214 RWHP and 282 RW ft-lbs in CA emissions trim on the dyno in Leucadia on the PCH.

 

ooooops

my mistake, sorry I wasn't implying a engine for my 82 trans am, this is for my 84 trans am, sorry for the confusion, that was a big ooooooops too, very misleading.

ok here is my plan, my original 305 H.O is well gone, thats why I stated keeping things things such as compression and vacuum compatible to what the stock ecm desires.

so what I am getting is a ex-TPI bare block with crank, I want to bore it 30 over, and still maintain 9.5:1, I do have my original 416 heads but just didnt think there would be much potential with them as say maybe vortech heads, I need to run my feedback rochestor as well as the hei-est distributor, roller rockers are a possibility, I also plan to take my 373's out of it and swap for 342's, it has a 700R4.

 

Stick with the 416s and the 3.73s. Nothing to be gained by swapping either of those things as you describe.

Have 1.94" intakes installed in the 416s; pocket port them; they'll outperform Vortecs in the application at hand. For one thing they'll keep the compression up where it needs to be, which you won't get any 9.5 to 1 with Vortec 64cc heads on a flat-top 305; for another the stock intake won't bolt to Vortecs; for another a 305 can't really use the extra flow that they give, like a bigger motor can.

Same for the gears: no real reason to slow the car down like that. Even if there was some advantage to nutting the car that little bit, is it worth $300 minimum in parts to do that?

Roller rockers are always a good idea. Make sure you get valve covers that support PCV properly (in other words, not your typical chrame BS); without it your car will not pass emissions. I'd recommend the Comp steel roller-tips, part # 1416; they'll fit under stock VCs, which means just one less visual cue to an ****-retentive inspector that something has been changed.

Make sure you use a CARB-certified intake, such as a Performer, basically stock replacement. Paint it the same color as the rest of your engine which should be black. Again, less visual cues to the inspector to search for reasons to flunk you.

Buzzwords don't make you car go fast. The right parts do however.

 

Too bad you're in Calif.

I'm getting ready to pull my L69 in a couple months!! It's basically a fresh rebuild, professionally machined block and heads w/a few more goodies, and everything on it is emissions legal.

If I decide to sell, I'll most likely sell it as a package with rebuilt E4ME carb (Autozone), Weiand intake, stock distributor also would be included...runs great, loads of power by 305 standards....

 

I'll ditto the heads. Work over the 416's with 1.94's, some porting, and new seals & springs (I'd also recommend screw-in rocker studs or at least pinning the press-ins). Or, the only alternatives you should consider are World S/R Torquer 305's, and they will need at least some minimal porting before installation.

You can go with the roller cam, or you can put a less expensive flat-tappet in a roller block. The lifters and pushrods need to be of the same type as the cam, that's all. The ECM will certainly be happy if the cam is a computer-compatible type - mine's the biggest one Crane makes.

 

For a cam on a fairly mild engine I reccomend a Melling MTC-1. I havent seen any other cam perform as well on a small cube engine and pass emmisions. BTW- MTC-1 is 50 state with good power idle-5500.