Hey everyone, im new here, and hoping someone could answer my questions about TBI and L05s.

Im going to be receiving my great-uncle's extremely well-kept 93 buick roadmaster (yeah yeah, it isnt F-body, but the buick forums kinda disappointed me on mods, they were most concerned with LT1s) and I was wondering if most of the mods that were listed in the stickies would be applicable to the L05 engine.

Ive heard countless times to replace the cams and heads with LT1 cams and vortec heads, but i was wondering if there was anything else (relatively cheaply, my budget is about 3-4k) i could do to squeeze those extra hp out. im definitely not interested in an engine swap, as so many people have tried to convince me.

In addition, a friend of mine told me carbing the engine would be better, but seeing a few threads has lead me to believe that replacing the TBI unit with an aftermarket one would yield better gains. I just know there is more power lurking in there aside from 180 horses.

 

Look into a pair of headers and full exhaust first along with an open element air cleaner. That should give you 20-30hp easily. Then you can look into a cam, intake & tuning when you are ready for more. That could get you up to the 250hp range. If that's not enough you will need a pair of decent heads to get past that.

 

i assume you mean exhaust headers and then normal heads on the last sentence? (im pretty new when it comes to under the hood lingo)
how many of the parts are interchangeable between the L03 305 and the L05 350?

 

Yes, exhaust headers first. Normal heads on the last sentence but that is some major teardown and rebuild work. Pretty much everything on the L03 & L05 is interchangable. The only thing that is quite different are the head chamber sizes and the TBI injector sizes. The L03 is around 58cc and the L05 should be around 64cc's.

 

Your friend is doing you a big disservice suggesting going with a carb! Since you have a working budget you can improve engine performance without great deal of pain. Please note that B-body uses a unique intake manifold and distributor due to the low overhead cowling. While the rest of the engine is common I am not aware of any after market intakes (carbed or EFI) that can be used on 90-93 B-body!

Depending on your local smog laws I would ditch cast iron exhaust manifolds and go with headers and a true dual 2-1/4" system. If you still have to pass inspection keep cats and AIR system for visual compliance. With headers you'll have to install heated O2 sensor. These engines have been chocked from the factory, but this is not the biggest performance limitation.

The next step will require changing camshaft, reworking heads and custom tune - factory cam chokes any further performance improvement. With more potential power on tap ECM tuning and increased fuel delivery should be next.

//RF

 

Thats a retrograde on that Caprice.

 

i assume it isnt possible to lower the engine? haha. i dont think florida has any smog rules, or if so they are minimal.

i hope the unique intake doesnt hold anything back.

i have some friends that are experts on engines that will help me do some of this stuff, thank goodness im not alone!