trans_am_ta_84

my dad has an 85 trans am. he is putting a motor from an 84 trans am LG4 in it. before he puts the motor in he wants to put some work into it cause them stock LG4's from 84 are hidious. anyways he wants a real hefty cam. he doesn't want it so big that the engine can't handle it becase he once had a 305 and some guy gave him a cam for it and it was way too much, meaning his brakes went out after a few times of using them cause the vacume. anyways right now the 305 is stock with a holley 600cfm carb, and a holley street dominator intake manifold. which cam should we use for this engine?

F-BIRD'88

Look Here

#E923 is about right for that motor.

Price is right too...

Get some headers and bigger exhaust.

SSC

A good cam for a mostly stock 305 is a melling MTC-1. Better fuel economy and more power throughout the street range power band.

F-BIRD'88

The Melling MTC-1 and the Elgin E923 are the same cam.

trans_am_ta_84

he wants to build a really nice 305 so are these like alot of hp gaining cams?

eric17422001

Well how much HP he gains is going to be determined by a lot of factors beyond the cam. We assumed this was a basically stock LG4 so there isn't much point in going wild with the cam.

Now if you'd posted that he was putting on a set of reworked heads, boosting the compression, running such-and-such intake, such and such headers, a high stall converter, steep gears etc. then possibly we all would have advised more cam.

Less is more. Overcamming an engine is pointless. I right now have an engine with a cam with a 1600-5800 range. Except the heads currently on the thing crap out at about 5000. Now I should have gone smaller on the cam. Live and learn!

Eric

trans_am_ta_84

well as far as headers he is getting the edelbrock tse tsi whatever they are called. he is getting a flowmaster cat back, he might get the heads ported but not positive, like i said we have a holley street dominator intake and holley 600cfm 4bbl. anymore questons?

SSC

Ah then we agree.

Yes, it's a very nice cam that will work excellent with headers and a cat-back. Some minor porting could bring the flow up and if the heads are off why not toss some better valve spings in also. I spoted some Craine springs in Checker the other day for $45 not too bad since thier avalible nation wide, Melling also makes good replacment springs.

Vader

You probably KNEW this was going to surface evntually, but since it hasn't yet...

Since the '85 currently has an engine, and the engine that will be installed into the car won't be "numbers-matching", and some time will be spent in preparing the replacement engine, why not pick up a used 350 and put all the parts and effort into that. Torque and horsepower will be greatly improved by the displacement alone, and the existing intake and carb are a good mate to a mild 350 for the street.

Just saying...

trans_am_ta_84

well, my dad didn't want to go all out, he just wanted something with some guts. but, we have our friend that works at a machine shop looking for a 350 block and if it's not going to be too much money he is going to get it. 350 isn't very easy to come by around here so he figured he would just put some power into the 305, but he called the guy up and the guy builds race motors and he said it's not worth it. i also have a trans am but it's the LO3 and i think thats fine for me. it's my 2nd car my first car was an 84 LG4.,. thats where we got the motor from. over the winter i am putting an LT1 cam, 3.23 gearing, headers, and it's got a cat back already, so i hear that setup would be pretty nice and i know i'd be running at least a very low 15 maybe high 14's.

SSC

Where is here? Ive got 14, 350 engines taking up space on my shelves.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

You mean the 350 I've given up on is only 90 miles away? I thought all you had were 327's!

You can make an LG4 run, but an '84 is not the right year to start such a project with. It's got dished pistons (read: low compression). If you go out and buy flat-top 305 pistons, you'll raise compression; but, is that the way you should spend you money?

If you need to bore the block, forget the 305. Spend your time, effort, & money on a 350.

Don't go thinking I'm a 305 hater because of what I just said. Read my sig...

trans_am_ta_84

i'm in NY. what would you want for the 350?

Vader

Huh? There must be about seventy-leven bajillion 4" bore blocks in the Empire State. You're just not looking in the right places.

Any money spent on the lower end of a 305 is probably wasted unless you really want a numbers-matching engine or can do the machining work yourself. You can usually get a 350 2-bolt for under $200 with all the parts.

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5-7,

You wanted a 350 but could only find 327s? Did I miss the joke? Got a spare 305 crank?

pheonix305

yeah but besides the fact that youll get more horsepower from the cubic inches, everyone uses the 350, not saying i hate 350's because there awsome they're the all american engine. but 305 is an original not many people build them because everyone puts 350's in there place. and yes u can find 350 blocks quiet easily and parts are cheap but i think i'll stick with my 305. also try summit racings cam part #SUM-1102 it comes with cam,lifters,and the right springs for the cam.