I have a 87 Iroc z 305 TPI, recently found out the #3 piston has a hole in it. My mechanic told me, pulling the motor to see if the cylinder wall has a crack would be my best bet, pulling the motor and checking for other problems will cost me a $1000. My question is, from what i know now, do i pay the $1000 to find the problem and hope the block isn't cracked and can be fixed or Replace the motor now? Help me out any advice? Trying to keep it low budget and ****ing badass!

 

Hello Iroc 87!!

Is your IROC all original?

 

My car has headers and a full exhaust. the air conditioning and heat has been removed. It is not all original.

 

It depends on your budget...can you take the chance that the block is screwed after the $1000 tear down? If you can't comfortabley, a new block would be a guarantee, and better spending that initial $1000. If you can comfortably do the tear down and hear that your block is cracked, then you can go that route and hope not to hear that the block is bad, but you will probably hear a couple people throw out going 350 so you need to figure out to what extension of a "bada$$" car you want.

 

Go 350 dude.

No sense in paying money to tear down an engine you know is broke. Do that yourself - it's already broke, what harm could you do? Even if the block is fine it's gonna cost so much in machinework to get it back to rebuildable condition you may as well invest that machinework money into a 350 block.

You've got a lot of decisions ahead of you,b ut I will say this, the closer you stick to stock the cheaper it will be. It snowballs very quickly.

 

AGREED,
AGREED,
AGREED,
AGREED,

sounds like the perfect opportunity for a 350. unless its a daily driver throwing a grand to a tech is a waste of money in my opinion.

 

by the way, good looking car dude

and you can go a long way with a 1000 dollars building a 350

 

Thanks for the help everyone, its clear new 350 is the way to go. The car's HVAC was removed for the headers. If i'm going to pull the motor is it bad idea to get rid of the headers and reinstall the air conditioning and heat. It gets hot in a hard top with black interior/no ac?

 

Why was the heating and air removed for headers, thats like saying the windshield was removed to install new seats. They have nothing tieing them together except being close to one another. You can fit headers with the stock ac box inplace, its been done many many many times, by myself included.

 

I bought the car without a/c and heat. I was told the HVAC was eliminated because the fiberglass cover had to be removed for the new headers and exhaust the previous owner had installed. Also I asked my mechanic about installing HVAC back into the car, he directly said i would not be able to because to case would melt with headers. i would have to find a different exhaust manifold? im happy to hear it can be done anyone know where i can find parts?

 

I run headman shorty headers (non air) and my ac box is just fine.

 

Hello Iroc 87!!

Out with the 305, a new 350 with 4 bolt mains is the ticket, since the originality has already been compromised!!!

All the parts will swap over, you'll need a few different parts, prom, knock sensor, and fuel injectors!!

Build a monster mouse!!!

 

You don't need to build a monster motor, but a budget friendly 350 will put a smile on your face when you hit the go pedal. And like was stated, pretty much all the parts you need (minus the actual motor and a/c system) is already there on the car. With a little tuning and bigger injectors, your stock TPI will work. Youll just need a 350 knock sensor, everything else will swap over, as long as your "new" motor has the bolt holes in the heads.

Id start looking around the junk yards, or the classified here for that a/c system. People are pulling them off all the time and not that many people are putting them back on, so finding the parts shouldn't be all that difficult.

 

Thanks I bought a Jasper engine their Techs found me a remanufactured 350 from a 87 iroc I was told my top half from the 305 should bolt right on to the 350. I specifically asked if the computer fuel, and air would be a problem they said no problem!

 

Like stated above you'll need bigger fuel injectors and maybe a little computer tuning. It will all bolt on no problem, but its not gonna run like a scalded dog with 305 injectors. ARe they including the 350 heads or are you planning on reusing the 305 heads?

 

Trust the guys here over the guys at Jasper - we dont have a vested interest in taking your money.

There ARE differences that you will need to take care of to make it function properly, fortunately most of them are pretty easy, but it will require a little effort.

 

I am getting 350 heads with the engine. Thanks for the feedback! Do you know where I can find injectors that aren't so expensive.

 

the only difference between the 350 and 305 fuel injection was the 350 had 22 lb/hr injectors while the 305 had 19 lb/hr (i think). From my understanding the tune was the same on the TPI. so just swapping the injectors should work as long as the heads are the 350 heads... correct me if im wrong. Check the classified on here for a set of injectors.

Edit: sorry for the stupid writing PROM's are different... look here
http://tpiparts.net/305_tpi_to_350_tpi_conversion