i have an L69, 305 HO. performer manifold, edelbrock 1406 carb and hooker cat back. i have been debating seriously on what to do to my car. at first i wanted 300 HP, and that i found out takes way to much time and money for my 305. all i am asking for is that nice tight acceleration when you get down on it, good acceleration, and an all around driving experience. im not looking for a race car, all i want is a powerful and decent 305 that i can have fun with, and mabey even beat the typical rice burner. i am going to put on the 2055 hooker header, and maybe a cam. i would like a cam with plenty of vacuum, very streetable and a nice notable idle. any suggestions would be nice. for the future, i am going to build a 350 and switch over the headers and everything, but that is when i am out of college. please help me decide what exactly i need to do to my car that would make it a lot of fun. it has 3.73 gears in it, and any drivetrain or other mods other than the engine would be nice, because they wont be replaced when i do the engine swap. thanks for the help in advance.

 

comp xe 268 cam, 2500 stall, and headers. Get the motor tuned and you should see 300 hp.

 

300 HP isnt that hard or pricey to get. Keep in mind the L69 engine has 52cc to 58cc chamber heads you would have to measure them.... Depending on what you want it to do, it will be limited by the air intake the heads will allow. I just built my 84 Firebird L69 - mild cam degree +4, Edl intake, 1406 Eld carb, it out runs most imports the only thing I want to be better is better/faster responce when the secondary opens. I have been changing rods and springs and I am almost happy. I think if it is close to what you want, just start trying options with the carb.

 

305's make great boat anchors. I wouldn't spend any money on the inside of the motor, and just buy you a good set of headers and exhaust, and a good dual plane intake and carb. and run an MSD-6AL box and good plugs. That will give you some seat of the pants performance, and everything will convert over to your 350 later when you go that route. That way no money lost in the cam swap. May not be 300 hp like you wanted, but should feel an improvement. And no money wasted.

 

I agree, obviously you don't want to put any money into the inside of the motor. Nothing that you can't move over to a 350.

Are you willing to port some heads for it? Those stock heads work real nice with a port job.

A compxe268 and the 2500RPM stall is a great idea. With the headers, that would get you really close to your goal. Port up the heads and you're there. All of that can be moved to a 350 later for even more fun. See my motor combo in sig.

 

No reason to put a MSD on it. Stock hei with a good coil will be more than he needs. No money lost in the cam swap it will tranfer into the 350 later. Only losing the day or so it takes to install it.

 

I agree with 1320_guy. Don't waste money on the MSD box. There is no power gain there. Invest in a good aftermarket module for your HEI though. They are cheap, will work if you upgrade to a 350 later and will show some improvements in driveability. 305s are small block cheys just like any other. They are only about 5.6 cubes per cylinder smaller than a 350 and respond to all the traditional modifications. The hardest part about building a 305 is simply getting decent compression if you have a good short block with factory dished pistons. The smaller the combustion chamber you can run with a good set of valves and some pocket porting and you are on your way to a solid perfomance engine.