Well, I got my 305 to the engine shop, and i'll get it back as a short block soon. They said it looks like a better 305 than most because of the SHO version? What is SHO and HO i've seen it around the boards befgore but dont know what it means.

Thanks.

 

never heard of an SHO engine unless your talking about a ford taurus.. H.O. stand for High Output.. it was the L69 305 the main differences between the standard LG4 305 and the L69 were the pistons and the cam.. the L69 came with flattop's instead of dished pistons and it came with a more aggressive cam.

 

interesting. I looked for SHO on google, and only found SHO. Maybe he meant HO? I dont know about that though, cause it didnt have flat top pistons, they had "notches" cut in them on the surface.

Thanks.

 

Thats what flat tops are, they have small valve relief measuring about 6cc's. The only thing that is a SHO is a taurus. H.O. is what came in some Camaros. If you have an L69 you have a H.O.

 

is that what came in 85 Z28's?

Thanks 4 the info.

 

An '85 Z-28 could have had either a LB9 305 TPI, or the L69 305 Quadrajet engine - buyers' choice.

 

This had the q-jet on it. So i can assume it's an L69?

 

I don't think so. The LG4 was also available in Z28's.

I also think he's blowing smoke. There is absolutely nothing about HO vs. non-HO in '85 that would make the long block "better".

Because...
... the '85 LG4 should have had flat tops with 4 valve reliefs, just like the L69. If it didn't, it may have been rebuilt before already (like the '87 LB9 that I picked up that was supposed to be "original" but had dished .040"-over pistons in it). That may be why it looked "better" to the machine shop.

What made the HO was the cam and what was bolted onto the long-block (exhaust, air cleaner, etc.).

 

Guess it really doesent matter, a turd in gift wrap is still a turd.
Nothing special except the pistons were better and the rods were stronger but then Ive seen more L69 rods take a peek at the underside of the car then LG4 rods.
Ive still not seen any exh manifold difference just the larger Y pipe EM outlets apear to be the same size.

 

Hmmm, forgot about the rods. Supposedly L69's got better rods, but again I'd guess only in '83 & '84. In '85, the longblocks became identical (except the cam), and production beancounters hate differences between similar product lines.

But, maybe L69's did always get the better rods. It's been almost 20 years since they made one, proving it one way or the other would be difficult now.

However (and there's always a "however" in life);
You're only talking about a little higher strength in high-RPM situations. Since LG4's don't do high RPMs, at least not on their own (you can over down-shift and get them to do high RPMs), no biggie. Besides, it's more often the rod bolts rather than the rod itself that lets go.

Mine haven't cut loose yet after several excursions to 6300 RPMs.