Super Chevy article on 305 mods

by Joe73 Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:53 pm

Had my final day of jury duty today. I was reading this article in super chevy and now I just stumbled upon it on the net. Thought I'd post it up. BTW, the summit exhaust they give the part number for looks pretty good. Its only $220 for the 2 1/2" aluminized pipe or $429 for the same but in stainless. They also have the kits in 2 1/4" and 3" pipes. Just FYI. Impressive numbers boost with the add ons.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/engines-drivetrain/1412-how-to-mod-a-305-with-bolt-ons-add-168-rwhp/

by driveit Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:23 pm

Yeah, that was a good article. I always enjoy seeing a G3 in a Mag. I used to get HotRod, but switched over to SuperChevy this year it seems to be a little more my speed. I used to get it years ago. I just wish there was more G3 stuff in there.

by dynchel Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:28 pm

Interesting, I just pondered this with my moms camaro. A 1976 305 2 bbl. Its all stock except for the cat delete & dynomax super turbo system. I just did a good tune up with quality parts and it runs good, although I can't get used to "punching it" and not having secondarys opening up. Thanks for sharing.

by bracketchev1221 Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:32 pm

I was surprised by the minimal gain from the exhaust. You just have to ask yourself if those mods are worth it. You'd have to add up the dollars to do the mods compared to swapping in a GM 350 crate 260 hp crate engine. Your power would be close, but it would be a brand new engine as well. Like for me, mine is a 110,000 mile 305. Its not worth it.

by pila Wed Oct 29, 2014 11:04 pm

Lots of folks try to get some power out of a 305, and I guess that if enough money is thrown at it, some power is realized.
Many years ago, Hot Rod Magazine did one, and got 505 HP out of it. They had some bearing failures while doing it, but I don't think it was due to the power increases.
Can't say that an engine like that would be very streetable, and in my own opinion, it's money spent in the wrong place, with good crate engines available these days.....

by 77mali Thu Oct 30, 2014 6:36 am

That's a real good article- loved seeing the Elco too! All those things mentioned are good mods for a motor, especially the heads & cam.

I'm also in the "can't see spending all that $$$ on a small bore motor" camp (even if you were to max it out to 313 cu inches). I'd bet by the time you add up all that work & all those parts- you could get a new iron head "Goodwrench" 350 with 290 horses version (with warranty) for pretty close to the same money or maybe even less for the 260 horse version. Those aluminum heads they used alone are-$550/ea @ Summit.

by Roadcaptain S3 Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:26 am

I dropped a Goodwrench 350/260 hp long block in my Laguna a few years back. What we ran into were all of the other expenses that go along with the new engine. New distributor, carb and intake, balancer, headers, dual exhaust etc etc.
Basically all of the same stuff mentioned in the article except the heads. I think I got the engine (Summit or Jegs) for around $1600. By the time we were done I think we had $3500-4500 or so in it. I gave the new owner all of the paperwork when I sold it, or I would check.
A wild guess would be that you could make about the same HP with this set up for a good chunk less and you would still have the original block.
I think I'm gonna look into this a little better for the 77.

by Roadcaptain S3 Thu Oct 30, 2014 12:07 pm

If you do the math using the Summit parts listed in the article it comes up to around $3100. That's without the cats. They also used some upgrades on the exhaust (stainless) and a few other minor things.
If you scrimped you could probably do the upgrades for quite a bit less than 3k.

The current summit price for the long block goodwrench 350/290 HP is $2069.
The Jegs long block goodwrench 350/260 hp is $1510.

You still have to get exhaust, intake, carb and all the other stuff for either of these. A ROUGH guess would be you'd have 3500-4k in the swap

It looks like if you do the upgrades in the article you could save 500-1500 bucks give or take versus the crate swap depending on which engine and parts you use.

In the long run it would make a difference if you're on a low budget. A real life low budget, not a TV show low budget.

by Hawk03 Thu Oct 30, 2014 1:46 pm

I dropped the 350/260 in my car (haven't driven it yet). If and when the time comes to upgrade I can with the new 350 different stuff, where the money spent on the 305 is gone and that is all you can do with it.

by Dinomyte Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:04 pm

I'm of the same mind why spend big dollars on a 305 when for the same money you can work on a 350 and do more, but consider that there are only so many 350 & 400 SBCs kicking around, and they become fewer and fewer as the years go by. At some point in time the 350 we know won't be an option, and the 305 will gain popularity

I personally opted to build a 355 to replace the 305 in my car. That was done on a budget and came in just under $2100, that's with the old exhaust, pullies, carb (rebuilt the year before), and accessories and such. Still working on getting to new exhaust (side pipes).

by Roadcaptain S3 Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:33 pm

NOTE
The magazine also used 1000 smackers for exhaust. (580 for headers, 429 for stainless dual exhaust) for a very small HP gain.

by driveit Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:55 pm

Lotta cash. Mine isn't stainles, but I think it is the same diameter pipes. Headers, custom bent pipes and flowmaster mufflers cost me less than 400$ I think. The mufflers and headers were used, but they work.

by dynchel Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:59 pm

You could always get some flowtech headers, with purple hornie mufflers. The ultimate low buck exhaust....you could really impress the people in the trailer park.

by 77mali Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:04 pm

About $4,500 for a good "Performance" 330 HP "Turn-key" GM crate motor. Used to be able to get the 260 & 290 HP versions for less a lot less as a turn key option too.

by Roadcaptain S3 Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:17 pm

77mali wrote:About $4,500 for a good "Performance" 330 HP "Turn-key" GM crate motor. Used to be able to get the 260 & 290 HP versions for less a lot less as a turn key option too.

Agreed. I like the idea of the 305 upgrades at least being an option. My guess would be that a lot of guys could add the new heads, then find some good used parts to complete it. I love the crates, but the simple fact is a lot of shade tree guys just don't have (or want to spend) the money.

by dynchel Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:24 pm

There were factory hi/po 305's. The car I got my heads off of ('84 Monte) had the desirable #416 heads (58cc with 188 valves) it also had a aluminum 4 bbl intake marked GM cfm. So there are "better" 305 parts that you might find used for cheap. Hell I got whole engine for free, but only kept the heads, the rest went to the scrap yard.

by 77mali Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:29 pm

Captain where you been hiding btw? Good to see ya.

I actually like the 305- the one in my truck runs nice & has about 265 horses & decent gas mileage. If someone wanted to keep it numbers matching & do all or some of that stuff more power to them. If I had my original motor in the car I might have been tempted, lol.

by Roadcaptain S3 Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:37 pm

77mali wrote:Captain where you been hiding btw? Good to see ya.

I actually like the 305- the one in my truck runs nice & has about 265 horses & decent gas mileage. If someone wanted to keep it numbers matching & do all or some of that stuff more power to them. If I had my original motor in the car I might have gone for it too.

I always pop in from time to time. Haven't posted much because of an "Eventful" couple of years. Things have settled down a bit so I've been checking in a bit more often lately.
Thanks for asking!

I like the 305s too. I think they get a bad rep. Loved the mid eighties Monte and Camaro motors. Again, the old Gross vs. Net HP argument.

You can still do more with a 305 SBC than most other engines.

by driveit Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:04 pm

I'll say this, I would take a 305 any day over another 267...

by 77mali Sat Nov 01, 2014 9:44 am

Found them! These are some nice 290/hp 350's as options for replacing your motor. Torque s/b in the 350-375 ft lbs.

Good value for the $$-

Remanufactured Long Block:
http://www.crateenginedepot.com/350-Crate-Engine-290-HP-HO-12499529-P10014C556.aspx

Here's the same motor "dressed" with a few extras installed:
http://www.crateenginedepot.com/350-Crate-Engine-290-HP-Deluxe-19244450-P10940C556.aspx

by dynchel Sat Nov 01, 2014 9:57 am

driveit wrote:I'll say this, I would take a 305 any day over another 267...

In high school a buddy had a '80 Monte Carlo with a 267...it was a good race for my 301 Pontiac. Slowest drag race ever (unless its two civics racing, then they would be slower.lol) Super Chevy article on 305 mods Car-humor-i-see-slow-people_zpsm8wazih8

Super Chevy article on 305 mods Car-humor-i-see-slow-people_zpsm8wazih8

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