Hi guys, I'm new here to this board, as you can all tell, and it seems like the best board out there for 3rd gen info. I love it. Anyway, heres what i would like suggestions/help with. Currently, My 85 Z28 is equipped with a LG4 305. It has Edlebrock headers on it, so far. I didn't put them on, the dude before me did. It's got an open element air cleaner too. Thats about the gist of it right now. The engine has 96k original miles on it now. Blows no smoke, eats no oil, tranny seems to be in great health. Carb is alittle silly at times with its "work when I feel like it choke), other than that i have no complaints. The car was well maintained from what i can tell, very little rust. Just a little here and there underneath. Car has been undercoated and looks great otherwise underneath. I got it at a heck of a steal in my opinion. Only paid 1k for it. Been a daily driver since march when i bought it.

Ok long story short, i recently got a good job, and will now have some money to start doing some mods. I thought about getting a 350, but decided I'd opt to stay with the "weak" 305, just for spite, basically. My goal is roughly 250 rwhp, or more if possible. Here's what i think it will take.

1:Hi performance exhaust to go with my headers. I know duals are very difficult on our cars, so i just want a good magnaflow, or brand, or any suggestions from people with performance exhausts.

2:Edlebrock performer series carbureator. I already have this ready and waiting for when I'm ready along with a vacuum advance style distributor to replace my computer distributor.

3:Edlebrock performer dual plane intake. I got a friend at work whos gonna cut me a hellish deal on a slightly used one. We will see when he brings it in for me to inspect.

4:CAM AND LIFTERS. Probably the most important here. I need suggestions on exactly what I should do for this, and still have good daily driver ability. Please help me on picking this one out.

5:I think I would like to maybe just port and polish my stock heads at least for now. I know a good set of heads would be nice, but they can also be expensive. I'd like to know if this is a good enough choice.

All and all this should get me well into the 200's right? I may end up completely rebuilding the bottome end of my engine over the winter. Haven't decided for sure. Like I said, this engine seems in great health still. Plugs always look clean it burns no oil. Thanks guys! Please offer any suggestions except for getting a 350. Im not interested, cause I'm not trying to get 400 horses. I need this car to be a daily driver too. I just want some more umph. :lala: :hail: :hail:

 

You plans look ok. Keep in mind, heads make or break a setup. The cam is merely a compliment to it. Yes, the cam can be mismatched and cause more problems than good it will do, but the heads are where the biggest power gains are had.

A side note, if you plan on rebuilding the bottom end, you might as well just go ahead and build a 350. You can use the heads from the 305, which should be the 416 castings. Look up a guy named sitting bull. He's got some excellent instructions in his sig info for DIY porting/polishing.

Other than that, in response to:

1.) Sounds good
2.) Also sounds good. Although, for the street, the Q-jet is the best carb out there.
3.) That's ok, but keep in mind, the Performer is nothing more than a factory replacement.
4.) There's a lot that needs to be covered here. You have an auto trans. Do you plan on upgrading the converter? When do you plan to do the cam swap in relation to yanking the engine this winter? If at the same time, upgrade to a mid 2000'ish stall and that will really wake things up. It gives a slighty larger selection of cams as well. Do a search and you will see some of the things needed to be covered when choosing a cam (and entire valve train, for that matter).
5.) It's a GREAT choice.

If you do end up rebuilding the bottom end, you should just go to the junkyard and get a 350 block. Have it machined yada yada. Read this thread (and do a search as well):

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=256235

It gives a pretty good run down of building a 350 using 305 heads and on a budget.

Just because you don't want 400 hp, doesn't mean a 350 is out of the question. Keep in mind, a 350 will make making your goal a heckuva lot easier. it's always easier to make power when you have more cubes to start with.

 

Welcome to the boards man! Like stekman says everything sounds pretty good. If you can port and polish heads yourself your stock heads will be perfect for what you want to do. Do some mild port work and have them milled so you can achieve about 9:3:1 compression or so. Then get the comp cams XE256 cam and youll be set engine wise. Also like Stekman said the performer intake isnt the best performence intake but if your getting a good deal than I wouldnt pass it up either just remember you could probably gain an extra 10 or so hp with the RPM intake. With this combo and at least 3.42 gears youll have a R!ce eating machine. Good Luck.

 

I wouldn't spend the money rebuilding the 305 unless you wanted to go 100% original resto or somthing. Same money or less will get you a 350. A 350 with a mild cam (L-69 cam, or any compu-cam or whatever) with that edlebrock intake, those headers and the computer controled carb will work nice together. I have read that there are differences in the knock senser between a 305 and 350, and you would want to change the metering rods on the secondaries of the Q-Jet to a "B" hanger and CV or CK rods, search the carb forum.

As for the exhaust system,

I wanted the flowmaster american thunder system (just a matter of choice) but didn't want to spend the $320.00 for one. So I drove down to JCWhitney, and bought a PaceSetter system for an 85 F-Body with the L-69/or 350 for $169.00 (its $199 now). I came with 3 inch mandrel bent, aluminized pipe and dual 2.5 inch outs. I then sold the pace setter muffler on ebay and amaisingly got $70.00 out of it, and turned around and got the Flowmaster 80 series muffler for the 82-92 F-Body for $80.00 + S&H (like $90.00). All I had to do was make the shorter flowmaster muffler fit the pacesetter pipes by cutting off the expanded part of the left side tailpipe, and welding on a 4 inch extention to slip inside the Flowmaster muffler. Saved me around $100.00, but this savings was dependent on what I got for the pace setter muffler off ebay, I just got lucky and sold it quick. It sounds really nice! A bit loud, but that is what I wanted. Its just a cruiser for nice weekends.

The same flowmaster setup (with DOR) is around $320 from Jegs.

EDIT: as for the cam look into somthing like the Crane Powermax 2030 (Jegs #270-114122). Also remember that the cam manufacturer is your choice and so is where you buy it from everyone has their own opinions on what they like better. I like going to the local speed shop over in Sterling, because if its on the shelf and I need it that weekend its worth the few extra bucks. If they don't have it then I will order it from Jegs.

 

Hmmm...Yes, the RPM intake, I almost forgot about that one. Maybe I'll pass that deal up and just chill for a while to save the money for that intake instead. I see some still think its a waste to spend the money in a 305, but for now, this is what I want to do. I just want to screw around a little right now, and this would be a good engine to do it with. I have good car/engine knowledge, I work at a GM delarship. I totally agree that money could be better spent in a 350, but that is something I have decided to do down the road if you will. Maybe when I get my own place, and have a good garage to take my time and make a monster. So, anyway, once again, thank you for all the suggestions so far. I will look into them.

 

Daily driver plus computer controlled carb/ignition = good combination.

Daily driver plus Performer carb & intake = no more power than original carb & intake, and reduced mileage. Eliminating the computer controls also means you have to spend time/money on torque converter lock-up provision.

Save the carb, distributor & intake money for something that will make a difference. If you had a manual transmission an argument could be made for a double pumper carb (but still not a Performer), but not as you've described your usage/intents.

Crane and Comp make excellant computer-compatible cams. That is something that is worth spending money on - after the exhaust is taken care of, and doing the head porting with upgraded valve springs and seals would also be a plus.

The stock LG4 single-snorkel air cleaner has to go, too. A dual snorkel is a better choice for a daily driver than an open element.

 

The ZZ4 intake is fully emissions legal, a Q-jet can be bolted to it, and seems to be a step up from the factory or even the Performer intake.

 

All reasons why it's bolted to my engine right now.

 

OK, you guys have helped convince me and im changing my mind here. I have decided to keep the computer controlls and rebuild my quadrajet. Gonna build up a 350 down the road, maybe start on that over the winter. Probably just gonna do the heads on this 305 and the performer intake i got. I only paid 40 bucks for it and its in phenomanal condition. Runners dont have any carbon in them.

 

If you do replace the carb (which isn't really a good idea if it already works fine) get a Holley, not an Edelbrock.

 

lol bug these ppl on the phone

http://www.precisionengine.com/

This site is great
http://www.sdpc2000.com/

I would go with these
http://www.sdpc2000.com/cart.asp?act...art&catid=2172

Some web site out there said an LT1 cam would work well with the computer controlled 3rd gen setup. I've just never tried to put the facts together to find out if this is true. But you were going with a carb anyway so.. Might look into a different cam. Do you know if you have a roller cam in your engine? If so cams arnt going to be so cheap anymore.. 300 bucks for a roller cam... this is the reason why I'm not putting one in my ride. I would rather save up for a 350, build it up and drop it in.