Good evening! Been trolling these boards for months trying to decide what to do with my cars. I have a 1991 RS and a 1992 25th anniversary. Both are completely stock and around 90k miles. I would like to upgrade one of them to get the best sound and enjoyment from driving as possible, but I am not concerned at all with speed/power. Just reliability and a nice cammed up sound.

Does anyone have a recommendation how to best do this? I feel like I would be fine with some simple changes to the stock 305 for a little more of the classic muscle car sound, but if I am doing it, I would prefer to do it right.

Thank you for any feedback in advance. Love looking around on the forum and once I feel more confident about it, I am looking forward to posting pics with the other sweet 3rd gens on this site.

 

Money invested into a 350 is the same amount of money invested in a 305 however the 350 will have a better performance advantage. It all depends on what you want.

 

Change the muffler. Done.

 

I had a 305 in my 82 Z and it sounded good, it was nice but when i made the change to the 350 it made a world of difference, the power matched the sound, you can actually spin both tires, more power, best part is any parts from the 305 you can swap right onto a 350 (accessory wise) and save you a few more bucks, i will never WANT a 305 again honestly, they are great motors but the 350 just takes the cake

 

I built a pretty mild 350 to replace the TBI 305. Its pretty much a rebuilt .030 over L98 with better pistons, mildy ported heads,and upgraded bored TBI and intake. World of difference, still 23 mpg also. Car pulls hard to 5300 or so RPMs and plenty enough power to spin tires. L31s are a great platform to build from also and keep your casr TBI and looking stockish if you want to

 

Have had the old cat back on there for years. Looking for a little more of the cammed rough idle. Just debating if I should cam the 305 or if that is just stupid.

I mean, I want to swap it, but I dont have the knowledge so I would be fumbling through it and buying a lot of equipment or paying someone, so trying to decide since I know so little about doing the work myself.

When you say "pretty mild" is that a cost mild, or a performance mild?

 

Btw, looks great. Love how clean it is under that hood!

 

You should pick a camshaft that supports the rest of your engine combination to achieve the powerband goals you have in mind for it. Modifying your engine to make a cool noise ultimately is only going to impress people who know less about your engine than you do.

Also, the correct answer to what mods should be done to a 305 is none.

 

Sounds like I need to find the thread that tells me which 350 to start with and how to pick one. Thank you all for the feedback.

 

Correct 350, in 2021, is 96-2000 truck.

Not sure about "thread". Just the facts.

Whatever people did "back in the day" should be ignored. Not that it was wrong, or they didn't know what they were doing, or anything of the sort; only, it's 2021 now, not "back in the day" anymore.

You'll find with only a small amount more googling that the RPO for the 96-2000 truck 350 is L31.

If there's ANY ONE THING I would advise you to avoid, it's the "cammed up sound". Unless of course you're planning on entering your car in the square inches of krome contests, where 8-yr-old kids ooooh and aaaah over shiny things that can't get out of the way of a minivan driven by a blonde soccer mom with purpose like late for a Target sale. Concentrate on RUNS GOOD instead of "sound".

It's 2021, not 1984.

 

So if you were me, would you just buy a truck for $1000 from that timeframe with the 350 in it and rebuilt it, or is there a better way you have seen to get something to start with?

 

I would look for THE ABSOLUTE BEST motor out of a truck from that time frame, and I would ABSOULTELY NOT "rebuild" it. I would have the heads reworked and any broken parts replaced, and put the parts discussed above on them. I would NOT in ANY manner way shape form or fashion, TOUCH the short block, except maybe to put new bearings in it. Above all, I would NOT disturb the pistons & rings. I would PAY EXTRA, whatever it takes, to get a short block with pristine cyl walls. I would walk into the buzzard nest with the confidence of telling the truth and the humility of not being an expert, and tell them that I need to get my [insert year between 96 and 02] truck back on the road to support my lawn care [snow removal, construction, plumbing, roofing, you name it] business because I'm losing money without it. [maybe you're in one of those businesses? go in there with paint on your clothes, or roofing tar, or grass stains, or WHATEVER on you] I'd tell them I want the best motor I can get and I don't mind paying a little bit more for it. I wouldn't mention the word "Vortec". I wouldn't talk about casting numbers (906, 062) or RPO numbers (L31). I wouldn't give them THE SLIGHTEST HINT that you're a hot-rodder looking for toyz to play with. I'd project the image of a working guy (maybe you don't have to "project"? that's OK too, maybe even better) that's hurting because his truck died.

I don't think I'd buy a whole truck, not least because that probably wouldn't come with a warranty; but I wouldn't rule it out either, especially if you find the right one (grandpa drove his old Burb into a ditch or something).

 

You're not going to get a "cammed up" sound from a roller cam engine without getting into the realm of ridiculous. A mild street cam will change the sound a little, but to get the sound you're probably looking for, you'll be sacrificing something to get it. That something is probably drive-ability, gas mileage, etc. You're getting into a lot of work and money spent for nothing.

 

Hey, I love the sound of a cam with lots of valve overlap, BUT it results in loss of low RPM (and even midrange) power & torque, rich idle, and lousy gas mileage. In a race car, you don't care about any of that, but none of those things are good in a street-driven car...

 

Well, I cant say I have ever owned something with the crazy cam, so this stuff makes sense. I appreciate the feedback.