Once I get the know-how, I'm debating some major changes. Right now, I have the Edelbrock carb and intake. Okay, fine...it works. I'm debating, however, going back to a stock carbed engine. With me so far?

Here's the catch.

My TA was originally a Crossfire. I have the dual mufflers, and that's the only reason I know that. That I do NOT want to go back to. BUT, I'm thinking I might take it back to a stock 305. I have NO intention of swapping, but I want to get all the power I can out of the original motor without compromising what's in there.

WWYD, and HOW?

 

So what you're saying is that you have a 305 in there now with an edelbrock carb and intake and you want to go back with a stock intake and carb?

If you want to get the best performance out of the engine that would be a bad idea. The edelbrock carb and intake will be better than a stock intake, and probably give better gas mileage too if its tuned right.

Going back to factory anything once you have aftermarket parts will only hurt performance.

If you want to get more performance without going into the engine I would keep the intake and carb, go with a full exhaust from headers all the way back to the tailpipes, a good MSD or Accel distributor and set of plug wires.

That should give you a nice bump in power without touching any of the engine internals, and if tuned right will be just as reliable as factory.

 

My hesitation with headers is that I HATE how noisy they are. I love that low, throaty purr I get now. How can I keep that and still improve performance?

 

If you have straight log manifolds now you could swap to corvette or LT1 exhaust manifolds & then get a performance Y-pipe to fit that and a normal cat-back system.

 

I'll see if I can grab some pictures tomorrow when it's light out. Seriously, under the hood, I know ZIP, or next to it...I DO know that the exhaust on it now, with the exception of the cat, is the original exhaust. Amazing, I know...but it is. The cat is new, but only because I couldn't pass a "Tampering" inspection without having one... ...or so I was told. And the "previous owner" got rid of the cat and welded the tailpipe straight on.

 

If you dont change any of the rest of the exhaust, then the headers by themselves wont make it much louder.

Headers combined with a free flowing cat and an aggressive muffler will make your car quite a but louder. You do have some options for a quiet muffler that flows reasonably well. A full exhaust system with a flowmaster 30 series wouldnt be extremely loud.