Hello All, I need an answer to this question soon as I am going to be looking at a 87 305 camaro, auto, this Sunday for 2800.00 has 90,000 miles body in great cond, the question is this, is there a big difference in speed and performance between these two motors? I figure the 2.8 is about 135-140 HP and the 305 is about 150-155 HP that doesnt sound like a lot to me so now I am thinking I might not want the 305 after all, this car is the Berlinetta, I own an 87 camaro coupe with a 2.8 and I have read all the posts on here about swapping out the motors and have come to the conclusion that its not worth it, so I am looking at 8 cylenders, I thank all who may help me out on this one

 

i just wrote a big long reply, then netscape crashed, so I'll keep it simple this time.

your 2.8 has 135hp and 160tq
the LT(or sport coupe) roughly has 160hp and 260tq

that's roughly 25 hp BUT 100 lb-ft of tq. sounds way better than my 2.8

oh yeah no '87 berli's. you are either looking @ a sport coupe or a LT.

2,800 is highway robbery. come my way and pay $2000 for a car that's already got all the visuals going for it and it's fair amount of perf. stuff done. still a 2.8, but hey, it's got ground effects.

 

That's not highway robbery for the East coast.. that's about what a good condition mid-80's F-body goes for in NJ.

The 305'll be stronger, sure. I'm sure you'd feel a difference. Plus, it'll make life easier down the road if you want to put a 350 in. Is the 305 carb'd or injected? If injected, TBI or TPI?

 

I own an 87 2.8 thats mint. I will be looking at an 84 berlinetta, Tom it is carbed, I see what your saying about it being easier down the road. I have a great car right now its mint engine and the car itself, just finished a 3000.00 paint job and body work flowmasters brand new and brand new firestone firehawks with Amercian racing rims, but Its a six :_( so I was wondering if the 305 is going to satsify is it a big difference comapred to the 2.8? Slow if you could would you E-mail me that lengthy reply? pakyacaa@aol.com thanks for the fast responce. You guys are the greatest for sharing.

 

in my opinion you're far better off using that $2800 for buying a decent TPI 305 or 350 and dropping that in your mint car. Your gas mileage will go straight to hell with that carbed 305. Sure you'll have a lot more torque to use but not near what a TPI motor will give you. Just my thought. I dont own an F-body so I dont know what's al involved in the V8 swap. Considering the 8 was available in the car the swap should be simple. I personally have an '86 S10 with an '89 TBI 305. A tons more power that the original TBI 2.8. FYI the TBI 2.8 is 130 hp and your MPFI 2.8 is 135 hp.

 

Carbed 305? Nah don't touch it, you'll just burn a lot more gas for not much more go. My buddy has an '83 TA with that engine, and he can't keep up to me. He's able to jump ahead by a little bit at the start, but after that it's all me. I was able to pull on him up until to 140 KPH, and that's when we shut down. We've done this a couple times so I don't think it's just luck, and yes, he was trying.
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1986 Firebird
2.8L V6, T5 Transmission
GM performance cam, roller rockers, no cat, 2.5" exhaust from y-pipe back, Dynomax muffler, Bosch Platinum Plugs (not that plugs really make a difference anyway).

 

I have said many a time that my 5 speed 3.1 takes out TBI 305's all the time(I even got a late 80's silverado the other day!). That trq differance goes away VERY fast. After 2500 RPMs the engines are identical in performance pretty much. The V6 is lighter so it has the slight advantage. Especially when your only talking about 10-15 Hp differance and 150-175 if not a little more weight that the 305 has.

Theres a kid in town that has made 3 or 4 of my car payments so far last year. he stopped racing after that.

 

You've put $3000 into a paint job? Hell, keep your car and swap a V8 in!

 

paky, I lost it. it was similar to the one before, but I added some other stuff. after having my v6 camaro for 2 years, I'm selling it. Or rather still trying to sell it. If I were to get a f-body w/ a v6, it'd be a 3800 w/ T-5. other than that, never again. I loved the way my car looked, but racing anything was a joke. It handled good, but not that great.

I've moved on to a 3100 SFI B4U Grand Prix, and I liked my camaro better -- until I slapped a set of Eagle GS-C's on it. The GP already had more go, equal to a 3.4 Camaro, but it always handled worse. not anymore. Now it's better than my camaro.

I'm not selling my Camaro by choice, life and school and the economy is forcing me to. My girlfriend promised that in the future, when we are out of school, on our feet and stable, that I can get a F-Body again. It'll be a thirdgen, likely. By then I'll be able to afford pretty much anything. It would either be, a NEW Trans Am, a '92 Z/28 5-speed, maybe vert. or my altime fav. f-bod, a 71 RS-z/28 Camaro.

anyway, back to the topic. I'm assuming that if you get that v8 car, you'd have to sell your v6 car. unless the paint and body are close to as good as your current car, I'd pass on it. you could de a v8 swap, even though it isn't easy. maybe you should just pass on it and keep looking.

 

I agree with TomP .
I 'd V8 the one you have. I would definately go with a 350 or better yet a 327 . The performance parts are much cheaper and easier to find than the 305. Its hard to find a good set of heads for the 305 because the bore is smaller than the 350 or 327.
You cant use a double hump 2.02 or bowtie head (the best performance heads available ,IMO) on a 305 because of valve clearance to the cylinder wall, and even if you used 1.94 heads you would lose so much compression because of the combustion chamber size.

 

A couple things to think about... an 84 berlinetta if a V6 would be carbed. Definitely not anything you want. If its an LG4 you'd be better off but I'd still consider something newer. A well tuned LG4 can pull some great gas mileage if you don't get on it. Before everyone jumps in and asks how a 4bbl gets good gas mileage, its all about the primaries. The Qjet was developed to be an everyday carb. It has tiny primaries and huge secondaries. Basically this translates to great gas mileage if you keep your foot out of the pedal but push it to the floor and the secondaries will dump in as much fuel as the engine needs or more. Other benefits of the LG4 include easy swapping. Stick a 350 in under the stock 305 parts and it'll work. It wont be optimized but it'll work. Add exhaust, an aircleaner, and an intake manifold and some tuning on the carb and you're in business.

Back to the issue... I'd avoid Berlinetta's. Just a personal choice, they don't interest me. Too cushy, not enough performance. The same year Z28 would be noisy and wouldn't have digital guages, but it'd have better wheels, suspension, etc. Plus you don't want to deal with a berlinetta if it has dash problems.

 

Well my friends I cant thank you enough for all the info you gave my way, tomorrow is Sunday and I will be taking a drive to Conn, from Boston with my girlfriend BUT I will be going armed with quite a bit of new knowlege, I have a lot of thinking to do about all what you people posted, weighing everything I have a feeling though that I will be keeping my 2.8 and look into a 327 or 350 this spring, it is winter here and there is no hurry at all to get a toy, it is a second car so I only drive it on days off anyways.The 87 that I have looks sweet. black on black, flowmasters that make it sound like no v6 has a right to sound, but I always hate it when somone asks whats under the hood, and I just cant bring myself to lie so I mumble something about a 2.8, thanks again I dont know what I would have done if this board didnt exsist,
Stay Safe
Rick P