my dad has been nagging me lately about junking my old 305 tbi engine he wants me to keep it because its "better and more reliable then a 350" that was a quote from him. i had a 355 tpi engine that i was going to put in but for the money it would have costed to rebuild it i might as well go with the 5.3 ls1(getting it for 450$)

hes telling me that i can take the tpi system(intake only) off the 355 and put it on the 305 (heads and cam r from stock tbi set up) block and all i have to do then get headers and ill have up to 280 hp. now i know this is complete and total bs. but to make sure before i prove him wrong

the tuned port injection system uses different heads and cam right?
and putting just the tpi intake and headers on the 305 will not give it 280 hp will it?

headers only free up like 35 at most hp(the 1s i was looking at) and the factory tpi 305 from 89 was like 210 hp.


please someone with knowledge help me sort out all the bs hes been feeding me.

 

Yea its BS mostly. Yes you can bolt the TPI intake on thats true but its down hill from there. The 305 and the 350 are exactly the same motor but with a different bore so there is no difference in reliability. This however is comparing the same year ect. Later v8s had a roller valve train where as the earlier ones did not. Also some blocks were had 4 bolt mains where most had 2 bolt mains. Some blocks used for trucks and high performance cars had a higher nickel content to make the blocks stronger. Basically there is no relation of reliability to displacement only issues like the ones stated as examples. For performance TBI motors had different equipment. TBI heads were not exactly great heads neither is the cam. Even the much better but not great equipped TPI 350s would not see 280 with only headers. Though although the ls series 5.3 would seem like it would be cheaper it wont be in the long run. You will need the motor, trans, electronics to run it all (yes even the trans is electronically controlled), a good amount of fabrication work ect. It would be a good option as it is a good motor and but dont do it because its cheaper as it will not only not be cheaper but a much more difficult swap. Ide say keep the 305 run it till it dies and then swap in the 350.

 

thats the thing. the 305 is dead. and the 350 literally needs to be rebuilt. as in everything from bolts to bearings and everything in between. the 5.3 im getting help with since i no the guy. the harness i already built. the ecm is rather cheap. the car is under a complete restore right now so at this point theres absolutely no budget on what i have and will spend sadly.