i have a 79 350 block and heads, 305 intake, edelbrock carb and headers in my trans am. the lifters are starting to make alot of noise. so instead of getting new lifters and pushrods, what if i put the heads from my 305 (wich were good and never made a single noise) on it? and i will take apart the 305 heads and clean them and gasket match them, 3 angle valve grind and hot tank them. i am in an auto class so i will do all this for free. i hate the lifters on the 350, im not sure if they are the same on the 305 but i would like to get rid of the smogger 441 heads and put some smaller cc heads and hopefully raise compression and maybe get a little performance out of it. so would this be good? and what about gas milage and performance? thanks alot

 

Terminology clarification:

"Lifters" are the cylindrical hydraulic devices that sit in the lifter valley and follow the cam lobes. The pushrods sit on the top of the lifters and transfer the motion to the "rocker arms", which are located under the so-called "valve covers", pivot on the rocker studs, to transfer the motion created by the cam lobes and passed through the lifters and push rods (and multiplied) to the valves.

Now...

The noise is typically caused by lifters going bad or rockers going out of adjustment. The 350 and 305 lifters, pushrods, and rockers are all the same - except for wear, of course - so unless your 350 rockers are worn, changing the heads isn't going to do anything for you. Double that statement if the problem is with the lifters or cam lobe wear.

The change to the 305 heads is probably a good move, assuming they're in decent shape, but you need to understand exactly what's causing the noise before you start in replacing things.

 

sorry for the terminology, the whole top end of the 305 is pretty new and in good shape. maybe 5-10k miles on them. but have been sitting almost a year. the problem is the pushrods (couple are kinda bent), and the rocker arms are pretty warn out too. so im guessing the lifters arent in teh greatest shape either. so i was going to swap over what i could nad then buy whatever else i needed. i just would liek to know if its a good idea / worth it to swap teh entire head instead of just components. thanks

 

i just pulled the heads off my 305 and they are in really good shape, and i pulled out the lifters and they are in great shape, cant even tell they were used. and i looked down the lifter valley and the cam looks really nice and new too. im going to pull it out. is there anyway i could tell if it was aftermarket? could i use the cam too? thanks alot

 

Hopefully it's not too late, but the lifters should stay with the lobe they've been running on. They've gotten used to each other, and mixing around will not make them happy. If you do that, you can put the 305 cam in the 350.

You might get lucky and find a name & part number on the cam. Most of the time, though, you have to see the box. The only way to know beyond that is with a dial indicator and degree wheel.

 

yeah. thats why i asked if you could tell if its an afermarket cam or not. if it is then i was going to use the cam and the lifters, ill check and see how my lifters in the 350 look and if they are bad i might just find a cheap cam and lifters set. im trying to keep it as cheap as i possibly can. tahnsk alot for the info