Well way back when i bought my first car i bought 86 305 TBI for 600 dollars, with 230,000 miles. I fixed it up and made it look good, but it ran extremly slow which id expect with all those miles. I didnt really know the full potential of the car. I traded that camaro for a 93 blazer with a 4.3l v6 with some bolt ons and a cam. Where i live ive beat everyone up to 80 aside from a few camaros, stangs, and corvettes. But driveing this blazer i dont feel right, i honestly prefer that beat up camaro.. My long time friend bought a 5.0 mustang in pretty darn good condition for 1800 dollars it just needs a little TLC.

When i saw his car i knew i had to put my ole blazer up for sale and get another camaro, im still in the process of doing that. I'd kill for an iroc z, every since i was 9 years old seeing a black one that sounded amazing infront of autozone its been my dream car since then. I'll get about 3 grand from the blazer, and im saveing up money from the job i got. I want to buy a pretty much stock camaro that i can modify to my own likeing. It seems finding a 350 is going to be very hard, they seem to be getting rarer and rarer. So it looks like ill end up with a 305. Everyone said TBI is crap and i should go to TPI. My blazer is TBI and im not haveing any trouble with it although im not a huge engine wiz, i just know my basics.

So looking as ill probably end up with a 305 what do you guys think i should look for? What are the primary first cheaper mods i should throw on it in order to keep up with this mustang? I honestly dont care if i beat him in the long run starting off i just want to keep up with him. I'll have to stick with the 305 for awhile but later on down the road im going to buy a wrecked LS1 and throw that engine in it, also the interior will go in as well. I saw the long thread about the 5.0 vs. 350 and it looks like its going to be a pain getting the 305 to just go as fast as the 5.0.

So if you could, tell me in order what you would do to a stock 305 with prices. And tell me the reality of how hard it will be to find a 350 thats decent in the 4000 dollar range.

Thank you!

 

A 305 TBI is a great foundation to start from but you will have to perform a lot of modifications to get it to run with your average 5.0L foe. The car has many bottlenecks with the biggest ones being the cam and the exhaust. One thing leads to another with these cars and you can make one run in the 13's it just takes a lot of mods. If I were you would keep my eyes peeled for a 305TPI car, preferably a T5 car. You can always swap a roller 350 into any 305 3rd gen. You will likely save a lot of money that way rather than holding out for a L98 (350 TPI) car. If you are dead set on beating that 5.0 I would take a look at an LT1 4th gen. Prices on those cars have dropped big time and they have far less bottlenecks to overcome when modding. Take a trip over to thje TBI board to see what goes on with modding one of those set-ups. The same old saying applies, money = hp. How fast do you want to spend?

 

probably the easiest and cheapest way to be in a fairly quick camaro would be to look for an iroc-z with a 305 tpi and 5 speed combination, they factory had 210 or 230 hp ratings and 300 ft lbs torque around....

you should be able to find a pretty nice 1 in the 3,000 dollar range.

After that i would invest in a nice header back exhaust which should net a couple tenths in a quarter mile. The next greatest thing to do at that rate would be porting the heads and intake manifold, and adding an after market camshaft or at a minimum higher ratio rocker arms to help use some of the newly found airflow.

if i was going with a budget i would probably pull the heads and port them myself. Same thing with the intake manifold port, and transition it accordingly. Also dont forget to port the egr walls on the upper plenum. As well as porting the base and gasket matching all of them. I'd say your looking at an easy 15 true hp at that rate minimum. You'd be around 300 dollars for the head work magnaflux, valve job, acid dip, slightly cut the deck for straightness another 100$ for a gasket set on the top end, another 40$ for head bolts, 60$ on extra unforseen expense.

a set of roller rockers on the top of the new heads is where i would go next 1.6 ratio full roller self aligning. probably cost you about 250$. This will make sure the valves open accordingly to help increase the air flow needed with your new ported combination.

so you're currently up to 750$..........

exhaust if you buy it headers back, new will cost you a pretty penny, used on the other hand you can come by on the boards fairly often for around 350$ shipped to your door.

thats probably your best bang for your buck. it would definetly outrun a factory 5.0 mustang with ease....

mod for mod you'd still be toast though.

don't forget the unforseen expenses of a used car though, oil change, air filter, new transmission fluid, differential gear oil, (standard ruined parts (idler arm, ball joints, struts, shocks stuff like that).

also all the above parts are based on the average norm price they all can be had cheaper if you don't mind shopping around or using used parts.

currently i have the same above combination other than ported parts (which i have ready to go on one i finish gasket match all of them and i'll be throwing the camshaft in at the same time).

My current combination could easily run 14.6 in the quarter with an ignorant drive such as me behind the wheel.

with the ported stuff above i would expect an easy 14.3 as low as 13.9 depending on how good a driver and what tires you are running.

 

With 3k from your blazer, and whatever you save up from you job, you should easily be able to find a 5.7 Iroc, or any 5.7 thirdgen in that matter. I would hold out for a 5.7 TPI car as stock for stock, it will be a good run for your buddies mustang. I have both, and I crush TBI Thirdgens, and even some 305 TPI thirdgens... Like I said, get a 5.7 Iroc like you want. Just hold your money and wait for one. The longer yoy wait, but nicer it will be.

Where do you live, people here will glady find you some cars if you like close to them. If your in Norcal, I would keep my eyes open for you.

 

If your buddy's stang is bone stock and he leaves it like that you shouldnt have much problem getting a 305 to run faster than it, my 99 grand prix gt (bonestock) ran faster than a stock 5.0 mustang the day after it was bought, just my 2 cents

 

^

 

What 5.0 Mustang do you know of that is stock? Other than mine (even then I have Flows on it)? haha

 

I just purchased a 93 z28 hardtop bne stock not even a exhaust my buddy has a 96 ss impala also stock just exhaust. but hes the king of the rest of the click.......i want to beet this car being we have the only two v8 cars in the club but is the camaro worthy with its breathing problems how can i beet him........

 

I dont know any stock ones at the moment haha i suppose cause they arent good enough stock huh? lol

 

Coming from the guy who "beat one in a grand prix" haha... I would smoke you in my stock 5.0. You must have raced a guy who didn't know how to drive.

 

it's just for comparisons, anything this old is modified ........ i'd say a cam'ed, ported headed, ported intake, aftermarket exhaust 305 tpi camaro would easily stand beside a lt1....

mine stays fairly dead even with one, until 70 mph or so currently (automatic 1 if it makes any real difference).

 

But then again, with the same money, you could get a cammed 350 TPI and beat a stock LT1... I would stick to a 350 TPI car at least... It will be cheaper in the long run.

 

I think you will need a 350 tpi at least. Stock vs stock it will be a drivers race. So if you want to make sure you will beat him look into some bolt on mods like exhaust and intake.

 

Thank you guys so much for this great info. Buying a 4th gen is no longer an option to me, i had a 93 v6 and i absolutly hated the interior and the exterior wasnt that much better although modded they look pretty darn good. Although mine had pretty much no power options, and wasnt an lt1. The thirdgens just appeal to me so much more simply because where i live they are very rare and i like to stick out (for example, you could see my blazer from a mile away haha). I live in benton kentucky, at first i searched for months around here, louisville and nashville TN. I found a couple in nashville but mostly in poor condition. I figure what im going to do is is save up a good bit of money to fly me and a buddy somewhere to pick one up and go on a roadtrip on the way back. Risky, yes, but if works ill be pretty darn happy.

One thing i forgot to mention his mustang does have exhaust mods, but its kinda err broke. It's easier to say it was definetly homeade and didnt hold up. For our little rivalry we will be toe to toe, currently hes winning of course because he has his ride, but im able to make more money than him to put into my car. My plan is to find my dream iroc z and keep it for a very long time, money will come and go and to me its no issue because down the road i will have things done to it. I'd be very happy to just break 300 HP. Also his stang is an auto, i think it would be awesome to own a 350 manual iroc but if my research serves right they never made those. Then again though down the line i could always convert it to manual. The possibilities i have in mind are endless, and if you guys really think i could find an iroc 350 in decent shape for around 3-4grand while im willing to travel for it, then i will do whatever it takes to own it. I remember about 2 years ago i got to set in a iroc, i started it and just sat there i remember i almost had tears in my eyes. Im not sure if anyone has had the same feeling but knowing i could own this amazing car is the closest thing i can get to Heaven on earth.

 

You mentioned that third gen cars are sorta rare in your area, but since your willing to travel you should find something that leaves you feeling satisfied.

Check all the online classifieds (craiglist) and auto specific sites (autotrader.com , autos.aol.com ) for projects that people need to get rid of. I'm always finding modded cars below 4K on craigs. There isnt really any that are more than 4K lol. Sure some, or most, may need some body TLC, but finding a car thats already a little built shouldn't be too hard.

Although finding a IROC specifically could make the search a little tougher.
Good luck!!

 

Save up some cash for a T-56 Swap man, its completely worth it! Cost me about $1500 altogether. I prefer to save a little money by going carbs, i don't want to tune a TBI or TPI (i've already dumped money into a TBI unit and tuning to gain nothing) If i ever get a newer car like an LT1 or LS1 F-body/Vette i'll tune those only b/c the tuning abilities/epuiptment are more readily available. TPI is cool looking but i hate that you have to tune "chips" and in and out they go until you get the right tune.. and it takes a long time and lots of patience.

 

I highly doubt ud smoke a 3.8 in the little stock gt...

 

350's aren't all that expensive.

I'm expecting 3,500 from mine and its in relatively good shape.
350tpi 70k miles 128k body 15k transmission - intake/chip/exhaust/sfc - some others too but yeah.

350's aint that expensive if you look around.

 

If it isn't a GTP, you would be looking at taillights buddy.

 

IMO, yea a 350 would be ideal but the 305 isn't that bad. i have an 88 iroc with a 305 an a t5 trans. i've just done routine maintenance and added an exhaust an custom intake an it really opened up. i think a 305 with some mods it'll be a real close race. (assuming they are both manual)

 

i dont have a gtp....look in my sig