Can someone tell me what is so special about a Chevy 305. My buddy who builds rods says its the best and most dependable engine made. He tells me that is perfect for rodding and building. Is this correct, what puts the 305 over say a 350?
perfectly cheap. you must have heard him backwards. 350 pistons are cheaper, rod, crank, bearings the same, 305 blocks are hit and miss, many don't have mech fuel pump bosses.
it's a good motor. is it better? that's someone's opinion . what's best is very subjective , it's like asking who is the prettiest women. ask a dozen guys and you will get a dozen answers pros and cons of 305s and 307s have been discussed here before..MANY times..you should do a search
Ask FatHack. He has had good experiences with them. If you have a choice between a 305 and a 350, you'd be a fool to take the 305. Your buddy must build street rods. The billet parts must bolt on easier to the 305.
The best thing it's got going for it is that it's the easiest engine to find these days. Chevy put them in a zillion trucks and Impala/Caprices, and they are pretty much dropping out of trees. How about it, all you guys that were born before the Beatles made it big, did you ever think you'd see the day when a garden variety 350 was hard to find? When I was in high school, I had more than one person GIVE me a 283, some of them in drop-it-in-and-start-it-up condition.
Here's FatHack's post from the Tech Archive all about 305 engines. Excellent post, full of great information: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1494 .
My 305 ticks like it's got turette's. Other than that....no power, good mileage, will make a great anchor for my boat one day.
Great motor, indestructable! Really you can't tear one up, not enough power to spin a tire or a bearing! *HA*
Thought I'd throw my $.02 in here... is the 305 a good motor??? Yes... Does it have its drawbacks in comparison to a 350, Yes, stock it will have less hp and torque when compared to the 350 and as the owner of about a dozen 305 and 350 equipped cars in the past 16 years I'll take the 350 with 4 bolt mains anyday over a 305 or a 350 with 2 bolt main caps... the 4 bolt mains are the key issue if you want to go for horsepower down the road. You will most likely not save any money rebuilding a 305 in comparison to a 350, done it many times, as a matter of fact I have a 305 bored .30 over with a mild cam, edelbrock intake, roller tip rockers, etc. in my 86 chevy pickup right now, is it a good motor? Yes it gets the job done, BUT for roughly the same money i spent for all the machine work and parts I could have bought a BRAND NEW crate 350 2 bolt main from gm performance rated at 225 or 250 hp and a warranty... hey, we all make mistakes... The positives: If you picked up a mid 80's or earlier, cheap 305 w say 60,000 miles on it and put it in your car, you will find a lot of parts/accesories are interchangable with the 350, so later on when funds are available you could then install a souped up 350 and just about bolt it right in.... Just my $.02 though, oh wait, looks like my $2.00, sorry for the rant guys... Oh, one more thing, I had a 78 camaro w/ a 305 4spd manual rated at 135 hp would get 16 mpg highway... I had a 76 camaro with a 350 4 bolt w 4spd manual rated at approx 180 hp would get 18 mpg easily (and I have a lead foot) and the 76 was heavier... on that same note, I put a 327 bored .30 over out of a 60's camaro into that 78 camaro and watched my gas mileage drop to about 7 MPG and I had to mix racing gas with 92 octane fuel to keep her from knocking... something about the compression ratio... I never was one for that there book learnin', but damn would that car go....
I think it's better for people to hate 305s...more for ME...on the cheap, too!!! My latest one is getting a little Backyard Voodoo engineering, turning it from mundane smog motor to Mid-Rangin' Monster!! 285 cubes. Easy. Stock parts swap-o-rama. A little trickery on the heads. Induction to GO! Carefull cam selection. Cylinder specific tuning mods. Done.
What I am looking at is picking up a running 305 for only $150.00 at the junk yard. My buddy says they are indestructable and will have fever problems than 350's or other motors. He adds that he will rebuild it, beef it up a little and if I need more horse power down the road, he said he would throw a turbo on it. I am going to put it into my 39 Ford Sedan. I dont care about racing anyone, but I would like to be able to keep up in traffic or pull ahead if I need too. First thing I have to do is dig it out of the garage.
I'd think you could find a 350 for $200 to build up.... but if you can get a decent running 305 for a buck-n-a-half, and put that in the car "as is", you could have some other funds available now to get the car on the road and drive it for a while. And maybe pick up a 350 (or something interesting like a 327 or watever) to built up as you have time and money to put into it.
The 305's from the late 70's to the early 80's seem to be "indestructable", I think its because thanks to the smog regs and equipment they were rendered gutless. Just a quick glance in an old engine rebuild manual show a horsepower range of 115 hp to 135 hp, my 2002 nissan sentra has 132 hp for comparison. The 305 uses the same block as the 350, as near as I can tell the crankshaft, connecting rods, cylinder heads,etc. are different. The 305 and the 350 share the same leaky rear main seals, oil pan gasket leaks, intake mainfold leaks, and the most common that annoying SBC valve cover leak. That being said all these things are manageable and cheap to fix. Yes you can buy a 305 cheaper than a 350, a rebuild kit will cost virtually the same for both however. Used 305 cylinder heads are cheaper because they are less desirable in the current market, however when you take them to a reputable machine shop you'll find they probably charge the same to machine and rebuild 305 and 350 cylinder heads. The same goes for the blocks themselves. That having been said, go to a local auction or befriend the used car manager at the local new car dealership, find yourself a pre 1987 or 88 Chevy Monte Carlo, Olds Cutlass Supreme, Buick Regal, or a pontiac Grand Prix (these are all similar gm chassis, usually say on the door sills bodies by Fisher) and you guessed it, GM used the same motors and trannies in all of them. These cars will bring about $50 to $150 at auction, The dealerships will literally just wash their hands of them, I know I sold nissans until march of last year and as soon as one hit the lot it got towed to the auction block because it cost us more $$$ to state inspect them and run an emmisions test than we could sell them for at the auction. You now have a complete running donor GM drivetrain. The Olds cutlass and the Buick regal are the least desirable and cheapest to find, you also find that a lot of old people owned them and didn't put as many miles on them, or beat them like every kid that had an 80's monte carlo and thought he was a Nascar driver. Look around 60,000 mile V8 buick regals and are out there, and there not worth anything... we'd show people $500 for their trade in and in reality give them $0.00 for it, we'd just reduce the price of the new car $500 just to make them feel better about giving a 60,000 mile car away for free, nobody wants these things. Better yet find an 80's station wagon, hell, you might even get a Fuel injected donor car for $150.
nope...the bore on a 305 is way smaller, the blocks are different internally, although they look thesame as a 350. The crank and rods are like the 350, the heads are different.
bore diameter should be 4.00" 283-350, now length could be different. I am in the process of using 305 heads on my 265... does that count?
Sorry, the point I was trying to make was that later on he could swap the 305 for a 350 if he wanted because the blocks use the same mounting hardware, transmissions, etc. so if he could come up with a cheap running drivetrain he could setup the car for the SBC and later put in a hotter motor if he chooses or funds allow
I can't believe the confusion! A 305 is A 350 WITH A SMALLER BORE! That's IT!!! Same crank, rods, etc!!! The 76-79 305s were cast with slightly better blocks, but for a street motor even the newer ones are fine. They are just your beloved 350 with smaller diameter pistons and heads with smaller valves to fit their smaller bores. With sensible performance mods, in a light car (like most HOT RODS!), you'd never know the difference...and they're cheaper and easier to find than 350s are these days. I actually prefer the 305 over the 350 myself, and seek them out when I want to mess with small block Chevys. They are extremely versatile, just like the 350, and can be built to perform well on a budget. Cam selection and cylinder head work are critical, but nothing too difficult to figure out. Best suited for cruisers where reliable, torquey power is needed, or for lighter cars where a motor with excellent low to mid range power is desired. Best all-around small block for the vast majority of real world street driven cars.
I am a avid 305 lover. i have two, the one in my 50 has small valve low compression heads isky cam,rpm intake and 600 carb. the motor is dead nuts reliable has higher miles and has plenty of get up and go for my cruiser. and still does wicked ass burn outs when the notion hits. O and i get 24 mpg out of it too. My other one is a 84 H.O. motor with 200 h.p thats going in a 29 roadster with tripower and stock cam. should be plenty of power for a light car with 5" wide tires. my opinion is the 305 is just another small block. i dont build hardcore race motors so there all the same to me. and 200 horse is plenty for a daily driver
I found an 88 HO 302 (5.0) complete with everything including the starter, alternator, FI and harnesses out of a Mark VII for 150 bucks at a pull it yourself yard. For just about the same to freshen up (thanks to the Fox Mustang crowd) as the bellybutton 305 motor, it will make tons more power stock, and get as good or better mileage doing it, especially if you keep it injected. NO BRAINER here, and you get to keep your Ford a Ford, not a Chevrolet disguised as a Ford (ever wonder why so many people with Chevrolet motors insist in finding a Ford to put them in instead of finding a Chevrolet?). Oh well....
That's exactly what I am doing! Bought a parts car 84 Firebird-mullet machine, used the 305 w/ 200r for a few years. I broke the 200r, swapped it with a rebuilt TH350. The 305 will reside between the rails while I save pennies to rebuild the 4-bolt main 350 I acquired last summer. I put an Edelbrock cam, intake and carb on my 305 until I find a tri-power or someting else a little more fun. The 305 gets it down the road fine, it will beat alot of cars on the street (it will lose a few as well) and most people can't tell the difference. When people ask what it is, sometimes it's a super rare 302, sometimes a 327, sometimes a 283, 350, 383, 377, 400, 406 etc.... most people cant tell the difference from the outside. The best part of a 305? They are cheap, plentiful and get the job done! If given a choice for the same money, 350 all the way. If you're on a budget or want a cheap or semi-temporary mill, 305.... My $.02 Andy
They are not indestructable by any means. they just dont make enough power to break anything(in stock form). They are pleantiful and dirt cheap. I pulled the heads off of the 175,000 origional mile 305 out of my '86 Caprice, and it still had crosshatching in the cylinders, and almost no ridge. They can be built to perform, and if built in the same fashion as a 350, they'le only make 15-20 less HP. Given the choice, I would choose the 350, but if I had the 305 and some parts on hand already, I wouldnt hesitate to build the 305 for a mild car. See the link for how Car Craft built a 325 HP 305 on a fairly thin budget. http://www.goingfaster.com/spo/carcraft325hp305.html
Small bore, long stroke, economy engine;... Not quite as practical & plentiful as the 350's are. I just picked up a low-mile 305 that used to live in a Chevy "box" van for $150.00; I'd like to take it & it's 700R tranny, drop it in a street rod, & get shit-loads of gas mileage! I've heard arguments both ways, but I don't consider 305's to be really strong engines. (speed-wise) but they are VERY dependable & you can run em' forever!
Whats the opinions on the TPI motors? I've a '91 305TPI (only done 7k miles) from a Z28 coupled to a 700R4 I'm planning on using in a project - not looking for huge power, just useability and decent performance. Any adviseable mods to *improve* the stock motor (it already has a street performance ECU and decent headers.) cheers
So what I am hearing is, if you get a 305 and use it for a while, later on you can bore it out, change the pistons, etc... and its just about the same as a 350?
Wrong. 305s have a bore of 3.736, whereas 350s have a bore of 4.000. Even .060 over is a stretch with a 305.
My buddy is fond of saying that Toyotas seem indestructable because they're such a boring and gutless car that nobody drives them hard. Conversely, Pontiacs seem to wear out quicker because their owners flog the crap out of them. I think the same thing is true of 305s versus a more performance-oriented engine. Still, they are a V8 with cheap bolt-ons, use one if you can get it cheap. Fat Hack got respectable power from his, as others mentioned. As the owner of a 283-in-a-basket, I am on the (casual) lookout for a cheap or free set of 305 heads. They're supposed to be a good flowing head and they already have hardened valve-seats. I'm not sure what kind of piston I'll need to run for decent compression, however.
305=mid range torque MONSTER ever sat behind an LS-6 at full throttle? (underwear change required) Frank
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