I was going to put a 85 intake manifold on a 87 both are 305's but the 85 has the center bolt heads. Does anyone know if it would fit?

 

The 85 intake will only fit the 87 heads only with some modification to some of the bolt holes in the intake... I was going to do the same thing, but my machinist that redid my block convinced me not to, he said "that's a half-@ssed way of doing things...". He didn't want to do it, but lots of guys on here have done it themselves. Probably instructions how to do it on here if you search.

 

All you have to do is slot the 2 center holes on both sides

 

Half-@ssed? I've seen center bolt holes that were elongated look factory, just takes a little time. I'd love to hear your machinist's thoughts on the LT1 intake conversion lol....

 

That's what my machinist told me, I'm not going to argue with a guy who's been building motors for longer than I've been alive, and has the reputation to go with his experience. Just his opinion, he said he's done it in the past and doesn't like to do it anymore. I was willing to pay, he wasn't willing to do it. He felt my money would be better spent on one of the aftermarket intakes, which he stood to make no money on. Seems like decent advice to me.

 

.... well, it may be advice, but I don't see how it's decent advice though. He is obviously entitled to his own opinion of course, but when it comes to modifications such as these, an example will need to be provided before any conclusive decisions are made. Here is my 355-SBC that I converted from carb to TPI, in which is getting taken apart and rebuilt over the winter. The heads are early 882's, The TPI setup (other than the lower intake manifold) is off of an '86 TPI, but the lower intake manifold itself is off of an '89. I had to elongate the center bolts to get everything to line up. Now, I could have gone the extra mile and simply welded the holes shut, then re-open them the right way to make it look factory, but that is not needed though. I don't consider something like this to be half-@ssed, and if you weren't looking for anything out of the ordinary, you would never be able to tell;