305

[Voodoo Chick]

I have a question about my car's 305........Aforementioned car is my 1989 RS, with 305 tbi. I was hoping to, at some point, get just a little more performance out of this engine. I am NOT looking to make this car into a monster, she is my daily driver, after all, but I would like just a little more pep. Nothing major. I would love to see the car just a bit faster, a little more fun to drive. I do not feel like doing an engine swap at this time, so, any suggestions? Eventually, in years to come, I'll do the whole 350 thing, but right now, due to a few much larger car projects going on, that's not possible. Thanks.

[Waver]

here is my advice, spray it to the moon.

[JaMichaels]

4.10's

[Gregor]

here is my advice, spray it to the moon.

yeah that will work seeing its a daily driver. So if something happens goes lean the cars engine is phucked. And the DD can no longer be a DD. Good idea.

Have to agree with JaMichaels go with the gears. Your gas mileage might suffer.

[Prince Valiant]

4.10's

Given that it's a TBI, I agree. Consider a carb swap if you want more engine performance....you could then do a basic 4bbl intake, 600 carb, small cam upgrade, headers for a very healthy increase in performance.

Would be a good start/downpayment on a 350 upgrade though...if you're going to run a carbed 350 especially.

[Dr.Buick]

Headers. Could also be used on new 350 exhaust.. keep .it FI

[Waver]

yeah that will work seeing its a daily driver. So if something happens goes lean the cars engine is phucked. And the DD can no longer be a DD. Good idea.

Have to agree with JaMichaels go with the gears. Your gas mileage might suffer.

True, however if it is tuned right and it is a small shot, the chances of that happening is low. I am sure Ron showed us just how big of a shot those chevy engines can handle with his Imp SS

[Ricky Bobby]

Leave it alone till u can do it right its gonna be a turd no matter what. If u must do something then go with gears.

[jbiscuit]

^ exactly what he said. The 305 is unfortunately not going to yield much performance no matter what you do. Honestly, a basic 350 will give you that step up in performance you are looking for and the real kicker??? They are dirt cheap!

[Nickerz]

I had a red with red wheels 89 RS auto way back in the day and basically the only thing you should consider doing is swapping in a 350. Anything else besides spraying the piss out of it is a waste of money.

[BR3W CITY]

x10000 It will only ever suck. Earn some extra cash doing whatever, save up and buy a 350. 350's are cheap, even if your on a low budget you should be able to at least begin putting something together.

[Prince Valiant]

There was a nice little car craft or hot rod article a few years back...doing basic upgrades to all the *small* v8's...ford 302, chevy 305, mopar 318. Basic stuff as outlined above...basic intake/carb/260 but not quite "268" cam, and headers. They all made a healthy bit more power...iirc, the 305 was last (smallest bore, tiny valves, longest stroke), but still pulled a healthy 27x-ish hp.

It'd be a lost cause to try and expect it to be competitive with a 350 ever, or even cresting 350hp for that matter.

Not saying you *should* go this route though...it depends on what you want to spend and what you want ultimately in the future.

Heck, given how easy swaps for these chevies are, I'd probably say just do gears and start saving for an LS swap. Seriously...for not too much more than building a really healthy 350, you could have a nice modern FI 350-400hp lS based engine sitting under the hood.

[chargedformula]

i used to have a 90 firebird with the same engine combo. went to great lakes dragaway and ran a 17.1 second quarter mile. you can make it faster, just depends on how much work you want to put into it. i went from 2.73 gears to 3.73 gears, that really woke it up, dropped the car into the 16's. the next thing i did was put a LT1 cam in it with some valve springs and edelbrock intake manifold. the LT1 cams can be had for pretty cheap. that got the car to a best of 14.9 in the quarter. the same things that make the 350 faster make the 305 faster also. if you really want to get into the motor, the heads and exhaust manifolds are a huge bottle neck that you would see big improvements on.

[jbiscuit]

^ and all that modding to the 305 still won't get you to the performance level of a Jeg's or Summit catalog 350

[flyin_blue_egg]

True, however if it is tuned right and it is a small shot, the chances of that happening is low. I am sure Ron showed us just how big of a shot those chevy engines can handle with his Imp SS

But you said "spray it to the moon" not a small shot. To me if you have a DD and it's your only mode of transport, spraying it is a bad idea. Even with a small shot there's still a chance that something could go wrong and then you're left high and dry w/ no car.

[xxtremeteam]

I say if its your DD leave it alone and dont mod it

[Waver]

But you said "spray it to the moon" not a small shot. To me if you have a DD and it's your only mode of transport, spraying it is a bad idea. Even with a small shot there's still a chance that something could go wrong and then you're left high and dry w/ no car.

But then again, even with a turbo or sc setup, if something goes wrong, you will be high and dry with out a car. The nice thing about spray is that it is not an all the time thing. Depending on how much power one wants to add, a 75 shot when done right will get the job done right. It is cheap and easy hp. Plus, the 305 is stronger than you think, just vastly restricted. A gear swap can cost over 500 bucks, headers and exhaust wont give huge gains either. Kind of like the 4.6 mod motors. Want to get a great horse power return for your dollar, go with some kind of FI. Spray is the least costly of the three options. I am not the only one who thinks so either.

[lordairgtar]

Spray is good for the drag strip or some impromptu racing but not for over the board performance. Can better breathing heads and manifold be swapped in? That and headers and a less restrictive exhaust should help. I like the idea of a 600 cfm carb, but at least the FI is trouble free. An upgrade on the ignition would be good too.

[jbiscuit]

Again, why spend $2000 or more on new heads, a cam, carb, headers etc and still have meager performance?? Parts aren't cheap...You could buy a 350 for that and get more torque, more horsepower in a usable powerband etc

[juicedimpss]

best recommendation for seat of the pants acceleration improvement would be a looser convertor(if its an auto).

[hotshift13]

I'm in the same boat you are. I've got a 89 trans/am with a 305 too. Mine is pushing 200k on the odo, still runs good but getting tired. I'm looking for a nice 350 builder now, but I have considered leaving in the stock 305 and doing a ebay tt setup. ive also started researching doing a rear mount turbo setup as well. If it is you daily driver id leave it alone, gas is getting expensive too, so consider that too. I hope you've been to www.thirdgen.org? EVERYHING is there, do a lil bit of research, the website is awesome, wish I'd found it sooner....

[PB86MCSS]

I'd do headers and exhaust if you plan to keep it a SBC for the future. LS swaps are getting cheaper all the time but still will cost alot more than a 305 to 350 swap with more work involved. Depends on what your long term goals are for the car. 350 shouldn't be all that worse on gas if you are keeping the trans/gear ratio along with EFI.

[gen2guy]

Just an idea
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/pts/2441096597.html

[wrath]

In my 84 Chevy pickup I built a 305 for giggles. .060" over, 1.84" 58cc heads with about 40 hours of tungsten carbide good times, flat top Speedpro pistons, ARP studs everywhere, a ridiculous cam (at 750rpm it pulled no vacuum, I think it was a 274ish Summit cam), headers, and a Quadrajet with a factory dual-plane intake. ~6100rpm it made 274ish hp at the rubber. However, it didn't idle, there was no power brakes below 1100RPM. It was a chore to tune at idle because it was double-metering the air.

Nowadays I'd have just found a Vortec 350 or Vortec 305 and convert it back to TBI.

Oh yeah, and I had about $750 into it including machine work (Reichert Racing Engines), this would have been in 2003 I think.

[Voodoo Chick]

Eventually, I DO want to do a 350, or maybe even a 383 for this car, but that won't be happening for a LONG time, as I have a few other cars, and each is one is being worked on at the moment, one for body, another potential resto, and one being heavily modded, so the poor little RS has to wait to be fast. I just wanted a "for now" kind of thing. Thanks for all the suggestions, though!! :)

[Taetsch Z-24]

Gears, converter</>

As for the LT1...

It would make a great boat anchor, because if your doing all that work, LS1 it.