maroon88iroc

iTrader: (7)

i have a pretty much stock 305 auto 88 iroc. i have been thinking about putting heads and a cam i was just wondering if any of you had any suggestions. i do have a budget though. i am looking to spend about $500 on a good set of heads and a cam. it doesnt matter if they are used or new i just want to stay under $500 dollars and get some decent hp gains. i was thinking about a 350 tbi cam and some corvette heads. but i dont know what i want exactly. let me know what you guys think.

DanTheMan_smlk

wow...500 for everything? thats a pretty tight budget. I guess used would be the way to go

del91_305

If i were you, i would just keep the heads you have and put bigger valves in them. They already flow pretty good right out of the factory. As for the cam, most people use an LT1 cam, they are pretty abundant, one time i picked up one for 40 bucks. Since your running TPI you will need to do some tuning or get a custom chip

vrtc350

iTrader: (1)

Or see about getting a port job done on your heads along with new valve springs and seals.

From what I understand the intake runners (88 iroc, I'm guessing TPI) are one of the biggest restrictions.

F-BIRD'88

Are you willing to port your own heads? If so you already have the right head for your needs and budget.


The stock 305 TPI head (casting#081) has tons of power potential. Ya just have to take the dawg off the leash. Requires full porting and new larger 1.94" intake valves.
You'll need a valve job and machining for the new cam kit you're going to buy for your new roller cam. Shave .030" off the heads to bump the cr just a little.

Get a Crane or Comp TPI friendly grind. Comp #08-501-8 looks good to me.

Once these heads are ported and upgraded the whole package will bolt on nicely to a new 350short block in the future too.

vrtc350

iTrader: (1)

Porting yourself is not difficult, just tedious provided you have the tools to do it. Here is an article about porting 305 heads that may help.

http://www.ws6transam.org/ported.html

maroon88iroc

iTrader: (7)

how much would it cost me to get this professionally done? is there anyone on this board i can send my heads to and get them to port them. i could probably do it but i dont have the time or probably patience to do this.

F-BIRD'88

The trouble with haveing a stock head casting "professionally ported" is that the porting is $$$labour intensive$$$ (it takes a while to do.) You really have to watch the economics here. You don;t want to wrap so much money ( porting labour) into these head castings that you could just buy a aftermarket cylinder head for the same or less $$$. Because you, {like most of us} don't have a pot full of money, the only way you're likley to get a complete porting job that fits the budget is to do it yourself. ( make the time).

Or find someone that knows what they are doing that works $cheap$.

The machining you'll have to leave for a qualified machine shop.

I think you can pull this off on a tight budget, but you'll have to invest some sweat equity into the project.

It will be worth it in the end. These heads port up quite nicely.

Enigma_valar

has anyone ever put them on the flow bench before ? just curious as to how much flow were talking about here ?

Sitting Bull

If you can make the time, don't even worry about the patience end of it. It is just tedious (but not tormentingly so) due to the repetitivness of the process. You certainly will find you have the wherewithall to port and polish two heads

Follow the link at the end of my sig for the lowdown on what you need to do. Hey man, you are in for a truly enrichening experience because there is absolutely NOTHING as satisfying as experiencing 30 or 40 raw extra hp that you just carved out of cast iron with your own two hands

I owe the joy of my own experience to F-Bird'88, who encouraged me to go for it and who helped me with tons of instructions and advice via these forums. If any of us can help with this, just let us know. This is by far the finest thirdgen board on the net, and the guys and gals here really do want to help you out. Lean on us and we'll help you over the humps

Tom 400 CFI

How stock? If you haven't done headers and exhaust, you shouldn't be thinking about heads yet. Exhaust and headers first for sure. You'll use up all your 500 getting that stuff.

F-BIRD'88

I'm doing yet another set of the the dame things.

i think this is the 7th or 8th set of 416's I've ported.

If I can do it, you can do it.

F-BIRD'88

yes

intake worst effort 225cfm best 243 1.94" valve
exhaust 140 best 195 1.60"

Even the worst case ported heads I did would power a 350/ third gen to high 12 second ets with supporting parts.
Sold them to a guy with a 400SBC 55 chev. gave a full satisfaction guarantee that they would perform as advertized or $$$ back. Never heard from him again. Couldn't have been that bad eh...

the best set went to a fellow third gen ( er) in Buffalo.

I bolted another set on my 350 (removed L-31 vortecs) It was a blast. est 400-430HP . the motor broke a piston on the way to the track one day. .
But ran like a raped ape right up until it came unglued.

Was 12.65:1 compression. (heads milled to 52cc's)

Most people end up with around 230-160 ..cfm

don't bother with 2.02's on a 305 head use 1.94x 1.60 or 1.94x 1.50 for a 305 buildup.

Are there better heads? yes But hard to beat this on a shoe string budget.

Doing a set now for a buddy's dirt car.

Go!! lil Budget Car!! ...

maroon88iroc

iTrader: (7)

i have flowmaster catback on there now but i do not have headers yet... im just worried im getting in a little over my head i have never done anything like this b4. plus i dont even have the right tools to do the job.

vrtc350

iTrader: (1)

The tools will make the difference. Investing right now in good headers and y-pipe will yield dividends. Then you could move onto a better intake and runners.

The tools to do the port job can be had at a reasonable price at Harbor Frieght. The most expensive part being the air compressor if you don't already have one.

One thing I did to learn how to port was get a junk set. My dad happened to have some laying around. I practiced on those and then did my vortecs.

Tom 400 CFI

Then I recommend doing a cam and headers for your $500. Then tackle the heads later. A cam will run you under $200 w/gaskets and everything, and you should be able to get headers and Y for $300.00. Those two mods, w/requisite tunning, shoud give you a gigantic increase. Along the lines of ~50 hp, IMO. Ported heads and a cam won't get you that gain, IMO, trying to squeeze out through the stock manifolds.

-Tom

maroon88iroc

iTrader: (7)

well i know im going to need headers im looking for some right now. but i want to go ahead and do the heads b/c the valve seals are bad and the car smokes a little on startup. so i fiqured i could go ahead and rebuild these and fix that problem. but yes i do have an air compressor. so ill have to look for these tools. i need to find a set of used heads. do you know about how much a junkyard would charge for just heads? and i was thinking about running an lt1 cam would that be a decent cam with these heads?

vrtc350

iTrader: (1)

Well this set of heads are junk. They are the nasty swirl port. I'm sure he would care to get rid of them if you pay the shipping. Don't hold me to that just yet, he is on vacation. If you are interested I'll check with him on the other one (I'm sure you don't want the one I have already ported). I have the tools to pull the valves and spring out to.