I have an 82 Camaro with original 305 4 barrel, it's an automatic. It actually has quite good torque, and is a rather fast car. I just want more performance out of it, for what it is. I know throwing a 350 in there would be "easier", but I think it's got potential. What would be good upgrades for horsepower?

Here's what I was thinking
New Carb/intake, E-Fan, New Heads?-Valvetrain stuff?, Cam, Headers, Cat-back exhaust, Gearing.

What would you do if it were your car? (Other than a 350).
What kind of heads would be beneficial? What could I do to the valve setup for more power?

 

Heres what i did to wake up my '82 Lg4:
-mild aftermarket cam(forget the exact specs,but was
close to an L-69 cam)
-3"super single with headers
-home built cold air induction/free flowing air cleaner
-had to use electric fuel pump as original pushrod ones
(tried several)would not keep up
-carb rejet to compensate for the mods
After this it ran strong-had around 220-230 hp i recon
This was in the early '90s,later put in a vette 350-the
305 ,still running good and strong when removed is
preserved in my garage

 

Im no expert but from what Ive been reading up on here is that the intake, exhaust including headers and Y pipe, and cam should be first. Stock carb should be good for mild mods. If you still want more after that you can get into gearing, heads, stall converter, carb, induction, ect... Depends on how fast your willing to spend.

 

Headers and exhaust should be first. Then just make sure the quadrajet is tuned properly by somebody familiar with them and not just carbs in general. Seen many people here agree that the stock intake really isnt bad.

 

Yeah but for under 30$ for an open air cleaner, really cant be beat. The stock L69 intake is really good, but the single snorkel LG4 one could use upgrading.

 

Entire exhaust first, then intake. Don't forget little things along the way like fresh plugs and wires, new cap and rotor (basic tune-up parts) as well as advancing the base timing slightly over stock (most engines can take at least 4* additional over stock timing specs). Last comes the cam, at which point you might want to again consider the 350 before you start digging too deep into the 305 (an in-car cam swap takes almost as much time as pulling the entire engine).