tchernobog

So, I've had some plans to do something with my car for awhile now haha, just never had the right funding for it. However, I just picked up a second job, and I have scholarships that pay for my rent/school, so I'm in the clear to get something going with the car.

I have another f-body with a 355, so I'm not really interested in a 350 swap. What I'm looking to do is breathe some new life into my tired old 305. It's running near 185,000 miles with no rebuild, so it's probably long due for one haha. Impressively, I burn no oil, and have no leaks.

Anyways, like I said, I want to put some fire back in this engine. Nothing too severe, maybe a low 13 car since it's my DD.

On the chopping block, as it were, is a complete rebuild of the engine. It's getting gutted, hot tanked and magnafluxed, then rebuilt with forged internals. I want this rebuild to last a long time, and boost isn't out of the question down the road.

Next up is some new heads, I've had my eye on the TrickFlow 175 aluminum heads, I've read up about them a lot, they seem to be a solid choice. If anyone has any suggestions otherwise, let me know. I'm also considering the World Products S/R's and have looked at the vortecs, but I'm leaning towards the TrickFlow's.


What I need help with is selecting a cam. I'm a bit in the dark on this one, I'm looking for a relatively mild cam, but something that will complement the heads well.

Ignition will be replaced as well, most likely an MSD setup.

Cooling system is all new (from water pump to radiator) oil pump is relatively new (10-15k miles) fuel system is going to be replaced with the stealthram setup, all the sensors are new. Newish alternator/starter, and I just did a freshening up on the brakes (new lines, new master cylinder)

Am I missing anything here? If not, would you gents be so kind as to point me in the direction of how to choose a cam, or suggest one that fits my application?

edited

Rolling Thunder

Well although it would be cheaper to buy a 350 like the ZZ4 that has a forged crank and a good set of heads on it if you really want to work with the 305 heres my take on things. Low 13 on a 305 thats a good daily driver might be a bit of a tall order if you were willing to budge on this i think we could put together a strong torque machine. High end hp will get you the 1/4 mile times you want but at the expence of low end torque. And although even 25-50 ftlbs dosnt sound like a lot after you multiply that out by the gear ratios thats several hundred pounds of force your sacrificing at the wheels. Seeing as how street driven cars spend most of there time in the low RPMs i think its best to maximize the performance in theses RPMs to give you the power where you need it most which again leads to building a torque monster. For the heads i like the vortecs there the best bang for your bucks as far as heads go as they can be picked up for like 500 new or get the high performance bowtie vortechs from GM for like 700. Course this will require getting a TPI base where as the trick flows would not. Couse if your going with the steathram get the vortec vertion and vortec heads. Course i dont really recomend the stearth ram on a street driven 305. The steath ram is more of a high RPM intake with a basic power band of 2000-2500 to 6000-6500 RPMs on a 350. The factory TPI manifold however was designed around the 305 so its a better match. The cam again Ide pic something tame like the comp cams XR252HR or the slightly more radical xr258hr.

91_RS_Vert

i have an lo3 and im swappin it to carb and goin with an edelbrock performer cam and a set of 1.6 roller rockers, i just wanna know what heads would be the best heads for it. i do not want to spend more than 500 on heads, i heard heads of trucks or tpi motors run well on these motors, suggestions? thanks.

Rolling Thunder

Well theres not much you can do for less than 500. The truck heads your refering to are probably the famed vortec heads i mentioned earlier and they are a good set of heads if you get the right casting numbers and can be bought new from a place like summit for about 500 new and modded for high lift cams. However they will require a vortec style intake as well which goes beyond your 500 limit when you include that. This means you would have to find a used set which you can do but i never liked that because you never know what your really getting and to buy a set and pay to have them redone with new valve guides ect youll spend what a new set would cost. Thats not even includeing having them machined for high lift cams (where new sets from summit come already machined). Really ide recommend saving your money and getting a new set of heads. TPI heads are also pretty decent with a little bit of port work. Not as good as vortecs but pretty good for a factory head. Although again you run into the issue of getting used heads and its even worse because TPI heads are 20 years old and really should be redone. Again the budget plan start to get real expensive. Also the edelbrock performer cam I think I remember seeing the specs on that cam and its not really all that great. Not terrible but better alternative are out there.

91_RS_Vert

well i dont mind spending 500 on a set of vortecs to be honest cause thats not too bad for brand new heads. whats the part number for those? i would be willing to spend the 500 for the heads and then get the manifold and cam if all the mods together would give me around a 60+ horsepower boost. I would be very happy with that. I already have a set of good headers and a really nice exhaust system on the car. I have a 600 cfm electric choke edelbrock. should i sell it and get a holly dp?

Rolling Thunder

No $500 for good heads is a great deal especially for what they flow. I mean you know its good when even aftermarket performance heads a put in comparison to factory vortecs and it seems like every budget build in magazines feature vortech heads. The thing is the angle of the head is just differnt which is what promotes the higher flow rates without sacrificing air velocity (a key but often overlooked aspect of building any kind of motor). I dont have the part number off hand but if you do a search on summitracing.com they should come up in there various forms. As far as the HP increase im not sure what your motor puts out now but with thoes heads a good cam and intake assuming the exhaust work has been done i don't think it would be out of the question to hit around 300 hp while still maintain great street ability. As far as the carb personally i like edelbrocks. I like how easy they are to tune and how simple they are and fantastic customer support. Ive run a holley double pumper and it was a nice carb with great aftermarket support but i never found it to be as nice as the edelbrock for daily driven street use. It seemed like it was always in need of tuneing to be really 100% where as the edelbrock seemed to just have smooth performance even when it seems it shouldnt have. An example I put together a 350 with a 2 x 4bbl intake on it with 2 edelbrocks right out of the box with no tuneing of the carbs the motor fired up and ran very well. Even after tuning it to 100% when the weather goes from 90 degrees in the summer to 13 in the winter they still run seemingly just as well without even tuning them. Not to say you shouldnt tune them but on the other hand the holley double pumper would have given fits. It would run but it might hesitate a little bit or stall at idle or load up stuff like that unless you really took the time to tune it well. Long story short after trying them both i like the edelbrock for street use. For racing the holley probably has the edge as it did have a little bit better snap to it and the aftermarket support for that carb is awesome but for the street those benefits are not quite so important as running well. Just my oppinion thoe as i know theres alot of holley fans out there.

91_RS_Vert

well a stock lo3 is a 170 horse engine. but it has flowtech ceramic coated shorties with a catless two and a half inch midpipe to a 3 inch dual exit flowmaster. and the ac is deleted. so id say maybe i got 20 hp out of that if i was lucky. 300 hp would be plenty. and yeah its a convertible street car that i just love to drive its not a drag car. i just want enough power to take off pretty quick and lay some rubber down sometimes. what cam would u suggest with the vortech heads set up with the edelbrock cam and probably the summit vortech style intake...? thanks btw uve been very helpful. this website is great.

Rolling Thunder

Yea its a great site. Anyways for a fun car with lots of torque ide recomend something tame. Im assuming your going to be running a roller valve train? Assumeing a decent aftermarket intake, the 175 cc vortec heads, a good exhaust Ide recomend something like the comp cams XR258HR. A fairly tame cam that will favor the low end while still giving good top end with a basic power band of 1k-5k RPMs. I think it would be a very stout combo that would be very street friendly and lots of fun to drive. Course you could always give comp cams a call or fill out there cam selection form to get there opinion on matters as they would hopefully know better than me lol.