90 GTA Black

I am in the process of buying a 1992 Players Challenge 305. It is a NOS crate motor That looks completely untouched. It has the Serial number 068 card with it and V0121DB5 stamped on the front passenger side of the block. It has dried yellowish paint daubs on some of the valve covers screws and intake screws and cover screw. The cover has GM Performance motorsports on it and the TPI plate is blank instead of reading Tuned Port Injection. This plate looks like it may have been changed but everything else looks untouched. The price is $3000 US and I was going to drop the engine in my 90 GTA 5 speed. It also comes with a clutch. My questions is; Is this a good idea - to use it or should I preserve it as a piece of history. Also, am I buying the real thing. Thanks for any help!

87WS6

iTrader: (1)

What are the specs? Is it a stock 305 or is there something two the "Players Challenge"? If it's stock I would say don't bother using it.

If it is something other than a run of the mill 305 then shove that sucker in there.

Mark_ZZ3

That does sound like an engine I have seen in a 1990 Z28. It had a sticker on the top of the plenum that said GM Performance motor sports, the TPI plate was blank, and it had paint seal marks on the TPI bolts, TB bolts and valve cover bolts. It could be one of the series-legal engines.

Now you should know these were available to the teams for under $2000 CDN during those racing days. Yes there were that cheap .. somewhere I have the official GM order form or news letter.

$3000 US seems like a high price.

The engine were the same as your run of the mill motors except that they were dyno'd and assembled with the same batches of parts to ensure they were as similar as possible. There is nothing fancy about them like cams, cranks, rods, etc. All the heads were from the same casting batch, all cams were checked for lob dimensions, all engines were tested, etc.

If you had a real players car and the motor was gone, this motor would be an accepted replacement if you were restoring the car.

I don't want to buy your motor, but I am quite interested in it and it's history. I am collected information towards my Players restoration project. I think I have some GM Tech pages that list what is different about the motors ... not tech specs but general information on what makes them different.

email me if you would like more information or if you are willing to share info.

Mark.

Mark_ZZ3

Does the engine look like this:



Mark.

Mark_ZZ3

I should add, that engine in that picture ran a low 14 at my local track. That is with the racing chip. And our track is at 2400 ft.

So it makes me wonder how much HP these engines "really" made, because I have never seen a stock 305 5spd run low 14's.

Mark.