ok, a friend of mine has a 350 short block out of an 88 chevy truck. it is a 4 bolt main and it ate a valve, piston and rod on that cylinder are replaced. can i use 305 TPI heads on it?

 

I'm sure you can. Tom Keliher found that he had one 305 head and one 350 head on his Formula when he redid the top end. I think the small valves of the 305 heads would restrict the breathing ability of the 350 however.

 

why would you do that?

 

Yes, you can do this. However it would be a bad move. Your compression would raise slightly, however, you would lose horsepower due to the smaller breathing capacity of the 305 heads. Stick with the 350 heads. If you have to rebuild them. They are a cheap rebuild (about 150$ a set) if you don't have the heads, go to a junkard and get some they're a dime a dozen.

 

yeah but i as i understand it my TPI manifold won't bolt up to the 350 heads

 

The TPI manifold will fit with no problems. They did not switch to the Vortec heads untill '96. The '88 motor should have the '87 and up intake pattern. I know alot of guys who use the short blocks from trucks(4 bolt mains)in their cars.

 

ok ,but then why didn't it work when i put a goodwrench 350 in an 86 iroc-z with TPI?
the center 2 bolt holes in the intake were on a different angle than the ones in the heads.

 

The TPI manifold was produced with two different intake bolt patterns. It will depend on which manifold you have. The first was the standard SBC pattern(all the same angle). The later design changed the angle of the two center bolts. The Corvette manifold was different also.
You can get your manifold to fit. But you will need to have some mods done to the two center bolt holes.



[This message has been edited by 93ND500 (edited January 31, 2001).]

 

thanks for the info everyone!