Ok so to anyone who has been following my Firebirds plan for a swap I'm sticking with the 305 for now for simplicities sakes. ( PLEASE no "get a 350" comments).

So, the time has come to get my 305 ready for a turbo. Are there good brands and bad brands if I go to summit, and is it better to buy the parts individually or get a performance rebuild kit?

I'm trying to price this out right now, and there are a lot of kit combos offered, as well as good priced individual components.

 

What are your power goals? It all depends on that. Eagle makes some pretty stout assemblies for the 305, but they come with hypereutectic pistons and 5.7" rods.

If you want to boost a lot, just go after some custom forged JE pistons

 

Gotta do it... go 350 or bigger

 

I've only heard of a few people building up 305's and doing F/I setups, so it would be very neat to see. Then again, the bolt-on or cammed SBC or LS1 route is typically more cost effective. It all depends on what he wants, and the power he wants to achieve.

 

Unless you specifically look for a kit designed for a forced induction application, you'll end up with something that has flat-top or hypereutectic pistons. Choices will be limited by the decision to stay with a 305.

 

More important, what is your budget ?

 

I have access to turbos and a lot of parts cheap. Swapping an LS1 in would cost me way too much upfront, and I do not have enough experience to do everything required to get it to drop in and perform perfectly and not break my car. The 305 is already in my vehicle, and I have been told everything in a 305 save for the pistons can work in a Gen 1 and 2 350.

If that last line is true, then I can move most things over when I upgrade, and have the benefit of a plethora of cheap 305 blocks should I break mine.

The F/I route should take care of the issue of poor volumetric efficiency when setup with some ported heads and a good valve job. Almost every article or post I have read on building up a 305 is about how you can't just slap on parts and get power, I see very few F/I methods used, and to me..that just seems silly. I also plan to splay the 2 bolt main into a 4 bolt.

After finding a Lunati build of 345 HP with mild cam and intake work, I believe it shouldn't be too hard with a turbo I just need to know if I should buy individually or get some of the kits.

 

There's more skill involved in putting a turbo on the car than in an engine swap.

 

I don't have the $6 grand or so I'd need to get an LT1/LS1 into my car just for them to be stock. And if I mess up on them, I can ruin an expensive motor. If I ruin this, I ruin a cheap motor. Me and my friends are all interested in seeing what numbers we can get out of this, too. When the time comes to swap, we can sell all the parts to recoup most of the cost, especially if someone wants to buy a built 305 for their F body instead of swapping or spending the time/money to do it themselves.

 

How much were you planning to spend on getting the 305 rebuilt and putting in a turbo?

 

Well I found a nice pair of CNC ported heads for $2k on summit, but I guess I can get cheaper ones, I don't know how much better they are than the $1k ones. About $1500 for a complete turbo setup...um it looks like $700 for a performance rebuild kit on Summit not including crank and cams look to be around the $200 ballpark range. I'd need to get a tune, bigger injectors and fuel pump, better oil pump, guessing all that too cost another $800, dunno how much pistons will cost, I know I need better spark plugs and ignition coils, a new rear end and a new tranny (price depends on the junk yard) and frame suppports. This is, of course, a complete list of what I want to do in the long run. Right now I need to rebuild it because it is knocking HORRIBLY. SO I don't know if I should rebuild it with the base cheapo kits and start investing in heads, or start right off with getting it ready to be turbo'd.

 

That may be true but, do you know how many parts I have left from my old 305 on my current 350 thinking I'd do the same thing? The pulleys, engine mounts, dipstick, alternator bracket and power steering bracket.

 

Why didn't you transfer anything over? Did you wear them all out of tolerance?

 

How much do you have budgeted for machining and welding?

 

Depending on what it is we can weld and I have a friend that is a CNC machinist, although I don't think he can do valve jobs and porting if the heads I buy don't already have them done. So I don't know yet, that's kind of down the road. My budget is flexible, it's one of those situations where I can find the money to do what needs to be done, within reason...

A lot of this is coming from the fact I have access to a full shop, friends who machine and weld, and friends who supply me with free steel for rust repairs and stuff. I get big discounts on a lot of parts and tools, as well. The only thing I need to pay someone to do really is balance the rotating assembly if I end up needing it to be internally balanced and porting and valve jobs and a tune. So I can't give you a total on my budget, just that I will find a way to get the money needed....

Should I buy the parts individually or just buy a performance rebuild kit minus pistons for a 350 and put that in? I'm thinking of buying domed pistons and upping the compression ratio with some nice heads and then just swapping the pistons out for the turbo when the time comes, although rebuilding it with a stock kit is cheap as hell but it's still an extra $400 I spend now if I do go this route in a bit.

 

love when people disregard the OP and say it anyway x2

Seems to me by the time you get all this Aftermarket stuff for a 305 ( $700 seems cheap for turbo internals IMO ) All piping needed for turbo's, all the hours spent to build it, just to race a 350 with a cam and head work and lose.

Rebuild the 305 and save money, 350's come cheap these days, and budget 350's make awsome power. You want to spend between 1-2k on aftermarket heads. Assuming your gonna get a 180cc head for a 305, if you ever decide to go 350 or bigger yes you can swap heads, but your gonna be choking the 350 with that size. And from what i been reading a 195cc head is too big for a 305, unless someone can tell me am wrong.

Who cares about your friends, are they gonna give you money to put into your motor, rear, trans, turbos? If so then hell ya go for it, if not then make the right decision.

i had spent 2k on a rebuild 305, head work, cam, intake, carb, yatta yatta. 5 speed car i managed 14.4@96. It was pretty sad when my friend built a 350 at the same place for 2k and managed 13.5.

now that i've said what you didnt want to here thats my . Theres someone on the board building up a 305, Think it might be atilla, take a look at what he's doing and maybe you can get some good ideas.

 

Actually, yes, they are funding a lot of this....and I went to every junkyard within 50 miles and no one has any 350s. I have to go out of state for one....btw how many 350-400 hp 305's have people seen against a 350? I don't intend to drag, this is just for me to have fun around town till I can afford a much bigger motor. I raced my bud's Supra other day I kept up and only fell behind slowly, we were both very surprised and that prompted him to want to see what a 305 buildup can do.

And why did you carb your 305? Every carb one I see puts out junk numbers...carbs are so inefficient...as it stands me getting a proper 350 that isn't junk would require spending about a grand and a half ordering it from out of state, getting new pulleys and accessories to fit it, new heads, all new internals, new motor mounts, new wiring harnesses, new injectors.new everything just to get the stock HP.

 

Individual parts. Pistons will be the principal component of a kit.

It's cheap, but why pay for bearings, gaskets, etc. twice, plus the cost of re-balancing for new pistons and the hassle of pulling the engine and stripping it down twice.

 

That's what I was thinking. So I think buy a performance rebuild kit, minus the pistons and decide what I want to do with those. Think I should get a performance crank, too? I might need a new one anyway, I have no clue what surprises await me when I take this one apart and I have a feeling I will need oversized bearings anyway...don't know how much the stock cranks can handle.

 

A stock crank in good shape with a balanced rotating assembly shouldn't have problems up to 600 HP.

 

Nope, they just didn't cut it for the new combo I built.