I know, trash the 305 and get a 350! I'm satisfied with what i got. its a '92 camaro rs, all stock. as far as my over all goal with the car, i'd like to see maybe 14 sec. 1/4 times. not looking to be the fastest camaro but id sure like to be able to beat a sunfire if it came down to it. looking for some opinions on what is best to get to achieve the 14 sec. goal. i.e. best heads to get if needed, cams, headers, intake, etc. i did a quick search on here, didnt really find what i was looking for so sorry if this has been asked before. oh, camaro is always parked. i crank it up about once a week and drive it on the weekends. i drive a sunfire back and forth to work and where ever else i need to go.

 

wow, no ones gonna take a stab at it? lol i take it that this has been discussed alot.

 

You didn't look hard enough. There's a wealth of information out there on this particular subject.

Someone more experience at this should jump in.

But as for heads, there are some World Product S/R 305 Torquers heads that are pretty expensive I believe, somewhere in the 1000-1200 dollar range. I'm pretty sure they are directly bolt on.

There are 305 vortec heads that are a bit cheaper but require a specific intake manifold due to the bolt pattern.

It is possible to obtain a good flowing pair of 350 heads and mill them down to 58cc combustion chamber size.

There are some aluminum corvette heads that are specific for 305's I believe, but I've heard there are problems with the bolt pattern. A hole might need to be enlarged or something along those lines.



I do not know much much about intake manifolds, I hear edelbrock intakes are mild.

As for exhaust, Hooker 2055's or Dyno Don's headers will deliver the best performance.


Hope this helps.

 

this will not be easy. I made a thread about the same thing, and didn't really end up getting much info so i've been doing my own research and maybe I can help you out.
first things first, Lose the TBI. it is a very ineffective type of fuel management system. go with a carb or if your really motivated, go fuel injected(but it isn't necessary, easy, or cost effective) I would suggest a nice holley carb which will require a new intake and other things, since I already have a carb, I'm not very familiar with that what swapping from TBI to carb would entail, There is a stick about doing this on the carb board, go check that out.
The next thing I would do, a full exhaust upgrade. ALL of the stock exhaust on our thirgens are very restrictive, like trying to breathe through a straw. Getting only a catback will not change anything, all components need to be upgraded. Hooker makes nice header/y-pipe combos, and there are several Hi-flow cats and catbacks to choose from. 3" would be the best size.
now that the car can get the air, and loose the exhaust efficiently, now its time for actual engine work. Heads will be the biggest increase, so I will start there. The stock ones are very, very restrictive. There are a few diffrent heads to choose from, but i would say the best are Trick Flows Super 23 heads, they are specifically made for smaller bore chevys and work very well, they also save some weight in the process. you'll need some rocker arms to go with them, get some roller rockers.
now for cams, I haven't done very much research on these, but I've heard an LT1 cam works very nice and is a good upgrade from the stock cam. if you do your own reasearch, you may find something better.
That should give you a very decent increase in power. Thats about the most I know so far. also, you will need your timing adjusted and your carb tuned and your computer reprogrammed. its best to get this done professionally.

If you really want to get into it you can get forged internals and get a turbo system. or the weiand mini super charger. I think going forced induction would probably be the only way to see 14.00 flat in a 305 car, assuming it doesnt crap out before then. they just aren't very strong motors and arent made for large amounts of power. for the same amount of money to do all this, or close at least, you could probably swap to a ls1/T56 combo and get more power, a trans that can handle the power, better gas mileage, and a car thats at 400 hp with just a cam swap. do what you want though. I would really love to see a 305 that does 14.00 flat. It would give me hope for myself. lol

 

I intend to do better than a 14.00 with a 305. Hopefully in the mid 13's. I am just trying to nail down a plan of action first.

Cam

 

Check out this thread that I started:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...s-wanting.html
I think you may find some helpful links and information in there.

Cam

 

well i suppose you could go nitrous. I didn't really think about it because I don't consider it an option myself. I'd much rather have a turbo or super charger, I like my power to be there all the time. and at 40 bucks a fill up this would end up costing more money than a super charger over the long run.

 

I wouldn't even consider aftermarket heads to go 14's unless I had a large budget.

 

I intend to use nitrous at some point. I think I can get it into the mid to high 13's before I put any bottle to it. Hoping for mid 11's with the bottle...depending on how much spray of course. I am more than willing to address the suspension and put on some DR's to make all of this happen.

Cam

 

WHAT?

 

Yo ni siquiera considerar la cabeza del mercado de accesorios para ir de 14 años o que tenía un gran presupuesto.

That's at least what google translator told me.

Or did you mean why instead of what?

 

I mean what do you mean? that sentance doesnt even make sence. you mean you can go 14 without heads? or that you wouldnt waste the money on trying to go 14s?

 

I changed the word 'or' to 'unless' in my OP.
You are saying that aftermarket heads, or forced induction, or n2o is necessay just to go 14's. I mean that 14's can easily be accomplished with stock heads, and no power adders. Good headers and an intake should get you into the 14's.
I think LB9/m5 cars can do 14's, stock.

 

I doubt that when a stock fox body with 235 hp,500 lbs less weight, and 323 gears can only do 14.7. your talking about a car with 215hp weighting 4000 lbs, and doing better than that? its impossible.

but the real discussion is the lo3 here, and that thing is slow as ****. stock, it has 170 hp(no doubt less due to less quality over time) and that wasnt even to the wheels, that was to the fly so figure about 125 to the wheels. its been said that exhaust will add 10% power on our cars. so ill say that adds 13 hp. now lets say an intake adds 8(probably way less but what the hell) thats only an extra of 21 hp. that puts you at 146 at the wheels and 191 to the fly. still not even in the ball park for 15's.

read this, it will shine the light on some things.

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...der_heads.html

after heads, cam, intake, full exhaust, and they were still only running 15.4 and they started with a car that had 20 more hp in the first place.

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...aro/index.html

then in this article they tuned the carb and everything and squeezed out 15 more hp. still only ran a 15.02. not even close to the 14.00 that they want.

you can argue all you want, but this is an unrealistic goal, unless you are using n2o and even then your car will probably crap out.

 

No third gen rolled off the assembly line weighing as much as 4,000 lbs. Mine weighs 3040, with about 5 gallons of gas. I have done some weight reduction, but still have most of my interior, iron heads, steel hood, stock wheels, etc, etc. My brothers fox 'stang weighed under 2900 with 100% of its stock weight. That is nowhere near the 4000/3500 lbs that you claim. I have real numbers. You really need to be more critical of the sources you receive your info from.

I believe if you installed a cam (maybe an L69 cam), intake (along with carb conversion), and full exhaust, plus a 3.42 or 3.73 rear, you could get a lo3 car into the 14's.

 

I saw a post on here that had a list of 305 build ups I looked for it for ya but could not find it quickly the one that i liked was a Lunati build up gaining 375 horsepower using a stock bottom end from a 50,000 mile Lg4 adding vortec heads i think a Holley cab and a cam and headers , just using that motor for example building a 14.0 305 is very possible , that's with using the stock bottom end there are stroker kits for a 305 that make it a 334 , it all depends on how much work you wanna do and how deep your pockets are it is alittle more expensive to build due to the lack of readily avalible parts.

 

oh, your right. i was thinking of gross weight which is vehicle weight + max load so my car would be about 3300 lbs. Even so though, I still do not think this will happen.

 

Good job. By using somewhat inaccurate generic math, you just took 7 tenths off your time. That should put you closer to your goal.

 

not my goal.

 

Here's a few of them...including the Lunati one.
http://www.hioutput.com/tech/343hp/343hp.html
http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/325_h...chevrolet.html
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...cks/index.html
http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te..._ii/index.html
Just google, or yahoo, search 305 build or 305 build up.

Cam

 

Keep the TBI but invest in a good means to tune it. An EBL system or megasquirt if you're handy with electronics. 305 vortec heads are probably the best bang for your buck in terms of a cylinder head change. Flow over 200 CFM at just .400" of lift. Then the standard stuff: headers, exhaust, cam, and intake.

1 hp/cu-in is pretty easy to attain with a small block, and 305 hp should get you into the 13's.

 

I agree with Saabster. You should be able to upgrade 305 to a respectful 300 HP at the crank. Any more than that will cost a lot more $$ for exotic parts. From what I read the high HP 305's might not have good street manners. Plus after 300 HP you will have to start upgrading or replacing transmission and rear end ($$$). Cam change is good too as I believe TBI engines came with weak "peanut" cam. LT1 seems to be good choice among thirdgeners.

There has to be a lot of posts and many other members that went through the same thing. A majority of thirdgens came with 305 engine. TBI should be good for the power levels you are seeking. Yes you can swap but the money counter keeps ticking. You are going about it the right way. Determine your goals and select parts accordingly.

You can try giving Scoggin Dickey store a call. They are a huge GM parts dealer. They sell vortec heads that are upgraded. Maybe they have a good 305 head that's priced right. Check classified section here as other members may sell good used 305 heads. I would not put 350 heads on 305, mess up compression and knock. Check out this post.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ads-350-a.html

Keep us updated.

 

A 305 with 9.5:1 cr, heads, cam, and intake, with proper tune, can propel your car into the 13's easily.

 

You'll do just fine with the TBI, For those who dis it don't understand how to work it. It's all in the tune. I have bolt on's and a gutted car and I'm in the Low 14's-mid 13's according to my EBL Flash. Now that I have a brand new set of Nitto DR's it should be a close low 13 sec car and I still have the stock heads and cam. The car hooks like a beast now, I love it. Read everything in my sig and there you go.

 

Exactly. EFI cars need to be tuned to run correctly. I read a chevy article where they put a new EFI manifold on a TPI car and then tuned it by fiddling with the fuel pressure. NO! BAD!!!

TBI it's really important as it's a speed density system.

 

I agree that a tuned TBI will be fine for those kinds of power numbers. But if you aren't going to be doing the tuning yourself, as I will never be, I think that a carb is a sufficient and much cheaper alternative. What does it cost for someone to tune an EFI engine? I see chips go for $150...and new computers for as much as $500. If I have to have my computer re-flashed every time I make a change to my TBI'ed 305, my cost goes up a hundred or so dollars more for each mod I do...unless you do it all at once and never do any other changes to the car once you get the computer dialed in.

Cam

 

Check out this thread on good 305 heads over in the TPI section.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...ads-whats.html

 

Think about this though. He already has the tbi system on his car. If he were to buy new parts to convert to carb he'd actually be spending MORE than if he were to get an EBL Flash and a Wideband. Granted thats buying NEW parts. So in the long run it would be cheaper to just tune the car himself, it's not really that hard to do with the EBL/WB combo. As far as new heads here's a thread I wrote awhile back that should help in the parts selection.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tbi/...-synopsis.html

 

im with dan on this. i have read that you can just do bolt on top end with vortec heads, intake, a good 4bbl, cam and headers and achieve 300-320 hp. it will cost about $1000, but it is the easiest at home upgrades. you can also change your rear end gears for 1/4 mile that will help alot

 

Here lets break it down in terms of price to put it in perspective.

These are NEW prices plus shipping

Vortec heads $306.95 EACH
Vortec performer 2116 manifold $175.95
Edelbrock 1406 $275.00
New summit Distributor $89.95
Felpro gaskets $20.00
Fluids and odds and ends around another $100.00

So right there that's roughly $1300 in the carb swap. Now you can buy used but it's a hit or miss depending on what needs to be done to the heads, carb, distributor or intake. You could actually end up spending more.

NOw to just tune the TBI all you have to do is buy 2 things. You can get by actually ALOT cheaper than I did by getting a pocket programmer and some flash chips around like $200 or so but here's what I got and I LOVE it.

EBL FLASH $465.00 shipped
Zeitronix ZT-2 WB with controller 375.00 shipped

Thats $840.00 compared to $1300. Plus the knowledge gained by tuning the car yourself is priceless. So to me going carb is ABSOLUTELY not an option.

 

it is hit and miss but i purchased on craigslist 350 vortec heads with intake and a almost new edlebrock 4bbl with electric choke for $400 and it was all in real good shape, no head work needed so that leaves quite a bit for new cam and headers

 

that is a good deal but not everybody can find a deal like that. Even then I would have the heads fluxed anyway due to the fact they are known for cracking around the middle exhaust ports.

 

Its more effective then a carb.


Wouldent it be needed to tune the carb for some good power?

 

I dont thik you will have huge gains by swapping those parts untuched on a 305.

 

yes it was a very good deal and i agree that tuned right a tbi is very efficient but carbs i think are less maintenance if you get a simple edlebrock but i would deffinitely go with a cam at least. most stock 305 have weak cams for emmissions and changing the cam will really wake it up

 

If you are after power you will be tunin the carb every day or run, it will still require a laptop and sensors as a minimum. And if you plan driving the car as dd, the EFI fuel savings allows you to put some nice $$$ aside.

Powerband and fuel efficiency.

 

Actually if you think about it carbs are MORE maintenence. Having to adjust the idle screws everytime you change elevation or in changes in humidity. A float takes a crap then to have to rebuild the carb and that can be a bit expensive if you need to do it again. A blind retarded monkey can rebuild a TBI unit in ten minutes. It's more reliable, more efficient and you can make more power if tuned correctly.

 

Yeah, EFI is definitely a lot less maintenance. It's more setup time if you converting from carb or starting from scratch, but I think it'll be less in this case.

Seriously, there's no reason to dump a TBI for a carb. It can do everything a carb can do but better. Buy an EBL, have it professionally tuned once and it'll run great. As long as you can get enough fuel flow through the TBI injectors, it's plenty able to get the job done.