i need some ideas for mods to the heads, rocker arms and pushrods and what ever else i could do to the engine to boost performance while i've got it pulled apart, already have accel distributor, edelbrock prformer rpm intake and 600cfm carb. not worried about price this is a long term project, driving the Ramjet for now

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84Z28 L69 bringing back from the dead!!!
85Z28 Ram Jet 350 completely modded nose to tail.
"you need to get rid of that car, your always working on it"

 

Port the heads, or at minimum port match the heads and intake to the gasket. Higher ratio rockers. Bigger valves. Mill the heads. It's a good time for a cam swap.

 

Excellent oppurtunity to swap out the cam.

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--Steve S--
1984 Trans Am 305 LG4, 5 speed
Daily Driver, Flowmaster 80 Series
Holley 600 cfm & vacuum advance

 

thanks for the replies guys just couldn't let the car die yet, did so well for a stock engine i really wanted to see what it could do with some serious mods, what should i pay for the head work and how about the comp cams magnum rockers any good? and how about a good cam, i've read that 305s have the best flow at .477 lift altough i've seen some signatures here with much higher i really want to make this thing fly

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84Z28 L69 bringing back from the dead!!!
85Z28 Ram Jet 350 completely modded nose to tail.
"you need to get rid of that car, your always working on it"

 

I agree that a $200 pocket porting job is you best bang for the buck, bar none. 1.6 rocker arms are also a nice addiion if you're keeping the stock cam. Don't waste your money on a set of full roller rockers. You can get stamped steel ones with a roller tip (self-aligning design) from Comp Cams for far less.

I'd also HIGHLY recommend upgrading your valve springs! Stock they only have about 65-70lbs pressure on the seat. That's fine for 5500 RPMs or so, WITH A STOCK CAM, but if you EVER want to upgrade your cam to something hotter in the future you might as well upgrade the springs while you've got the heads off. You'll want springs with about 100lbs on the seat for any kind of mild to moderate performance cam application. Besides, after a decade or so of hard treatment your springs might be getting tired anyway. It's cheap insurance.

 

thanks damon for the advice, edelbrock sells sure seat valve springs do you think they will be strong enough? what can i clean the pistons off with? how about some ball park cam specs for getting more power, any info will be greatly appreciated

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84Z28 L69 bringing back from the dead!!!
85Z28 Ram Jet 350 completely modded nose to tail.
"you need to get rid of that car, your always working on it"

 

What exactly are you planning to do with the car? Leave it mostly as the L69, upgrade a little but leave the stock computerized carb & dist, go for broke?

If you want to leave it a 305 but boost it as much as you easily can in that form, I'd suggest a set of headers that are made to fit, like SLP or Edelbrock TES; and a Comp XE256H or maybe XE262H cam, and their 981 valve springs and 1412 or 1416 rockers.

I agree with Damon, the biggest gains in head porting is the bowls. A "pocket port" job is far more effective than gasket matching, which can actually hurt the performance if the other is not done. Clean up the bowls, especially the exhaust; smooth and streamline the valve guides, but be careful about taking too much off of them; and blend the "short side" radius as much as possible, especially the intake. Then and only then, consider gasket matching.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

there will be no more computer i have already deleted it using the accel distributor and edelbrock carb. and there is no smog equipment left so no need for a.i.r tubes on my headers. what about a nice gear drive? edelbrock makes one fairly cheap but i haven't heard anything good or bad about it. what size should my rocker arms be if i swap to the bigger cam? and as for lighter pistons what is the advantages of them?

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84Z28 L69 bringing back from the dead!!!
85Z28 Ram Jet 350 completely modded nose to tail.
"you need to get rid of that car, your always working on it"

 

Gear drive is a complete waste of money for a street car. Basically no increase in performance, or at most, very little beyond what a good (new) chain would provide. Lighter pistons require complete disassembly and rebuild of the engine, including balancing.

Port the heads, get a cam, upgrade the valve springs, put some decent rockers on there. 1.6 never hurts as long as your valve springs will handle the lift. Get a set of headers, AIR tubes or none as required.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

thanks so much for the responses rb, i really hate doing guess work (hence the crate motor in my other ride) but this is really a learning experience for me. Do you think that i will aproach 250-275 hp with the mods we've discussed? Accel dist., Edelbrock 600cfm carb,head work, valve spings, perfomer rpm intake and comp cam (that you suggested) 1.6 rockers, how about some march pulleys? any good? this is a long term project and money really isn't a concern for me i want to do this right. thanks for your help

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84Z28 L69 bringing back from the dead!!!
85Z28 Ram Jet 350 completely modded nose to tail.
"you need to get rid of that car, your always working on it"

 

Yes I think that's a realistic HP estimate. Depending on some other details, it may even be a little conservative.

The L69 already has flat-top pistons. So as long as the bottom end is in good shape I'd leave it alone, maybe put a new oil pump on it. (M55 with the Mr G #26 spring) Like Damon said, the "low hanging fruit" in doing stock head work is bowl porting. A combination of that and a good cam selection with valve spring replacement is the next logical step past what you've already done.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports