well i figured out whats causeing my oil leak!! i have like, 3 or so holes in my pan!! and thats probably why my engine wouldn't start, lol...... i'm thinkin' one of my cap's exploded but i'm not sure, looks that way!! what do you guys think?? salvageable?? or do i need a whole new engine?? i dont have time right now to pull the engine and actually see whats wrong so i'm just looking for opinions.......it's a 305 tbi...

 

Honestly it looks like something from the inside shot out of there. Can't say it's gonna be good when you get into it. I bet the pan is full of shrapnel.

 

A blown-up 305 is not salvageable, by definition. You can buy a used one for a tiny fraction of the price of rebuilding that one; or, you can buy a rebuilt 350, for very little more than a rebuilt 305.

I don't know what sort of opinions you're looking for so I won't offer any. Only facts.

 

grab a 305 longblock (or shortblock), that wasn't a TBI motor. Preferably a TPI motor or something. Or a 350 shortblock. Then toss your induction back on and be good to go. Quick, cheap, not terrible powerful though.

 

at many of the shops around here the 305 is like 1300 to 1400 rebuilt for a long block.. a 350 long block is 1200....

 

why is a 350 so much cheeper??

 

Pretty much the same here. It actually can cost more to rebuild a 305 because the parts (pistons especially) are a little more; plus, after cranking out 100 or however many 350s, they have to stop down and re-setup their boring bar for the ONE 305 some idiot ordered.

The difference is, a 305 has little or no core charge, since you can literally walk down the street and find them laying everywhere, abandoned where they died. A 350 has a couple hundred core charge. A grenaded 305 isn't an acceptable core for a 350. So by the time you abandon your 305 where it died like everybody else's and buy your cheaper 350 but pay the core, it might be the same price for a 350 vs a 305, or a coin or 2 more for the 350. Not enough more to make it not worthwhile, regardless.

 

BAM! Somebody needs to sticky that quote, for anybody looking to rebuild a 305. That's it in a nutshell.

 

well i have a 78' camaro with a 305 also and i was gonna buy a 350 for her but then it dawned on me i could just put that 305 in my 89'....... is a 305 out of a 78' camaro any different then the one's in 89'?? well the bottom end at least.....

 

actually that was if you had no core..

 

I am not sure. but weren't there some 305 roller motors about then? could be wrong but if i remember right you had like the 86 and before blocks and the 87+ blocks...

 

The '78 is a 2 piece RMS, while the '89 is a 1 piece RMS. WIll need a different flywheel then the one from the '89 to replace the flexplate already on the '78 motor. If you go auto to auto, the TH350 flexplate will work with a 700R4.

RBob.