Hello yall this is my first post so I apologize in advance if I did something wrong, thanx for being patient with me.

But more to the point, I recently came into a 1985 Camaro Berlinetta. It's pretty nice, I love the electronic instrument dash. But it's pretty slow on the get go. It has a flowmaster exhaust currently, but that's going to changed as soon as I get my hooker long tubes, y-pipe, and cat back. It's been converted to carb as of last week, as I didn't like the whole chip situation. I'm looking to do a cam swap on it, as I'm going to start rebuilding the engine this weekend. I don't really switch heads right now but I will if I completely have to.

Questions:
1. Should I go flat or roller cam?
2. Does anyone know the max lift that stock heads allow for, I'm thinking around .450-.460, maybe .470, or would I just be setting myself up to hit the head?
3. If the lift is too high will it be more economical to have them machined or just buy new heads?

Im thinking something around the lines of this:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...2&autoview=sku
am I on the right track of thinking?

 

Welcome to TGO. An 85 berlinetta with a 305 should have come with carb. Vin H? If you swap out the computer controlled carb you'll also need to swap the dist and install an alternate method of locking the converter.

That cam should be a good upgrade for the LG4 while retaining stock stall and gears.

For upgrading the LG4, peruse: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...tions-lg4.html

For some berli specific performance mods you may want to consider the addition of the triangular braces between the front of the k-member and the front subframe, unless your 85 has them. The berli's normally did not come with a rear sway bar and the front one was kinda tiny. Easy enough to bolt on something more solid. I added them to my 84.

Money and time spent rebuilding the 305 may be better spent on a 350. A rebuildable core can be had for around 150-200. You could even upgrade to a post-87 block with factory roller lifters, which your 85 305 won't have.

 

Yeah, tell that too my dad. He's limiting me to the 305, cuz my sister wrecked his 400hp firebird last year, so he's limiting me on horses for awhile. But we made a deal to put a lil more pow in the little 305, at his expense of course .

I'm also thinking about boring it out some, do yall think it's worth it to have it bored? And 85s come with flat top pistons, right? Would I see any benefits from hitting up a pick-a-part and finding some 416 heads?

 

Boring it out for extra cubes isn't very cost effective. An overbore requires the machine work and new pistons, do it if the block requires it.

What motor was this originally to be converted to carb?

 

Sorry if I wasn't very clear on the engine, it is the stock engine. But he got a TPI hook up on it, but still had the original computer carb in a box, so I just swapped that back on.

 

So, it was an original LG4 carb engine that was converted to TPI and has now been converted back to carb again? Do I have that straight?

 

Yeps

 

OK, then if it's got the original computer controlled carb and distributor back on top of the original intake then you've got a stock LG4 again.

Like was posted above, treat the mods like you would any stock LG4.

The weak links are:

1. Exhaust. The whole mess has to go from the manifolds to the tailpipe. Sounds like you got that covered already.

2. Tune. The stock LG4 chip has a very very mild spark advance curve. You could use a same-year stock L69 HO chip in it or go with an aftermarket performance chip. Also bump the stock base timing up from 0* to 6* BTDC. Last, replace the stock CH secondary rods in the carb with a set of DR rods like the L69 HO motor used. Nice bump in performance from that.

3. Cam. The stock LG4 cam is a super-wimp. It's affectionately referred to as the "peanut cam" on this board. Even the mildest aftermarket cam is a fire-breather compared to that. Forget roller- your block isn't set up for it. A cheap Summit house brand flat tappet cam like the SUM-K1102 is a considerable upgrade from the "peanut cam" and not too much for the computer to handle.

The combination of the three upgrades can really give a wimpy little LG4 some ***** without wrecking drivability or economy.