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Need info.. 1977 Chevy SB 305, Performance Reccomendations?

B

bmontini

Full Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2002
Messages
586
Location
Atlanta, GA
All, you have been SOOOO helpful with everyone's AV, now I got a question for you performance nuts out there!

I recently got my hands on my old car from when I was 16. A 1977 Chevy Nova with a 305 Small Block engine.

about 50k original miles
I am the second owner (originally my grandma's car)
I did the body work 11 years ago (its coming back again though)

Stock specs on motor: 145hp, 245 torque
Added:
- stock chevy 350 intake and 4 bbl carb
- 700R4 tranny (gets like 22mpg now on highway!)
- Cruise control
- Muffler back dual exhaust.

I am looking for information on how to juice this puppy up. Small steps at a time (read as LOW BUDGET) Thought about a crate motor, looks $$$ though.

Here is what I want
-a "little" more rumble, but still a "sleeper" if you will
-Smooth idle still desired
-More HP and torque while trying to maintain stock appearance.

Maybe heads. cam, new carb and intake, etc...

I am not a performace gear head, but I can rip stuff off and put it on... YOUR HELP IS GREATLY NEEDED and APPRECIATED

Pics are below!


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Tubbyslanche said:
Go With a ZZ4 Crate Motor from GMPerformanceparts.com
Click to expand...

Oh, that would be sooooo sweet... but there is this matter of $$$$ DOOH! quite a chunk of change to lay down... Good to know that this would be a good choice though!
 
Hello bmontini,

Intriguing project you have going there.

I?m not familiar with 305?s but back in 85, I replaced the stock 350 in my 1975 K5 with a crate Target 350. It was pretty complete and a simple bolt back together. I want to say it was about $1.5K to $1.75K. It?s been so long I just don?t remember.

I put a nice intake manifold, Carter 600 CFM, reasonable headers, rebuilt transmission, and a very good exhaust system. The whole project was around $3.5K.

The original 350 had about 250K miles on when I pulled it out. There was some piston slap and valve guide noises, but all the cylinders were holding compression.

The Target ran another 275K when I sold the truck. It was spewing a little smoke, but not any oil increase. I was surprised the engine held up as well as the original.

If I were in your situation, I?d go with a crate and do the mods you?ve mentioned. Your vehicle is probably smog exempt now and there will be a massive amount of options open to you. Especially considering that you can actually do most of the work yourself. (You won?t have to have programmers and chips tuned to EPA, DOT, and GOV specifications)

Good luck! ;)
 
Wow.. more crate suggestions... Thank you... Dang, seems like the right thing to do, but I really want to keep the stock "Motor" per say in the thing. (I would love a crate, but the car is so "original"right (at least the parts you can see!)I would hate to butcher it...

Curious if anyone has some recommendations on "internal" upgrades.. Cams, intakes, etc that might still (with some work) appear stock...

You guys are Great!
 
If you really want to do this right, go with a small block crate motor. It's a drop-in and you will be money ahead.

The 305 was considered the dog of the GM fleet. The bore to stroke ratio used in the 305 is not conducive to making hp and fast free revving. It uses small valve heads and a very low performance camshaft. It has an iron crank and two bolt mains. Not to mention being down on displacement. The 305 is not a good platform to start building if you are looking for increased performance.

The crate motor would would also appear completely stock.

 
SHC, good info, thanks! I heard about a Stroker kit for the 305, maybe a good option ??? ??? If not, maybe I will have to break down and buy an engine... I hate to get rid of a great running engine with only 50k miles on it. :( Any other tips??
 
Though I'm not as versed on the 305 as SHC, another thought about the crate is the newer hardened metals used in the pistons, valves, rings, etc.,.

77 was just about the time mandatory unleaded gas was required and the industry was having a lot of trouble with valves and unleaded gasoline.

I'm sure this will not be an issue with the crates.

As far a stock look, my 350 was only recognized by those that also had changed out to them. I think it was the valve covers.

You could get real silly and buy a junk core to provide for the crate and then completely rebuild the stock 77. Ultimately, there are more reasons to change than to keep the 77 engine.

Probably not what you want to hear, but it will be the typical opinion of those familiar with the 305 and 77 vintage motors.

Still a good project.

W. C.
 
If you go with a crate motor make it a BIG BLOCK as if you do any thing else some one when you are done just up and steal it in the middle of the night and strip it for all your go power parts and trash it.
Just leave it alone and drive the heck out of it and save your money and put it to good use
 
The only problem with going with the big block is that it will no longer be a "drop-in". It will require the larger radiator, different motor mounts, a TH400 instead of the TH350, not to mention having to go out and by all the little items like alternator brackets, fan shroud, heavier coil springs because of increased weight, etc. The costs will grow a lot quicker going that route.
 
I hear what you are saying about wanting to keep the motor. I had a friend in a similar situation several years ago. He found a nice LOW milage 78 Chevy Monza with a stock 305. He spent a lot of time rebuilding it and made a pretty decent, quick car. But it just wasn't the sleeper he really wanted, so he found a 350 and being a mechanic rebuilt it and dropped in and put a shift kit on the TH350. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I drove it a couple times and man did that bring it to life. :B: :B: :B: :B: You could floor the thing doing 60 or 70 on the expressway and break the tires loose. He blew so many mustangs and even camaros away with that power to weight ratio.

So moral of his story........ Even though he was a mechanic and built his, go for a nice crate motor, a lot of the work he did is done and you will be much happier in the long run.
 
Boy looking at that engine sure brings back memories, We never had much money as a kid so the bolt on's were the way to go. Headers, new intake, 4 barrel carbs and 411 rear ends were about it. You could also install a small cam.

Nice car. :B:
 
Bmontini - back when I was in high school ('81 HS grad) the Nova was the choice for hop ups, perhaps a bit earlier years than the one you have though.

Do the drop in crate motor thing, complete from Carb down to oil pan, you will save hassles and captability probs in the long run.

Here is a nice 330 HP job for you, not too much coin really:

http://www.greenwoodchevy.com/engine13.htm

 
One good mod would be to locate a set of 307 heads. The decks on the 307's are a lot thicker and can be milled quite a bit to raise the compression ratio.


Jeff
 
I'd go with Edelbrock " top-end " combo (heads,intake,carb & cam kit), cause the "homework" is already done and dyno tested to work together for max performance, but to make things better, i'd throw in some high compression pistons as well, like 9.5:1, you'll have to run premium fuel.
 
Maybe I can help (hold the track record for fastest street 305) all you need for a great peformance mod on the 305 WITHOUT alot of $$$. Edelbrock performer RPM intake and the comp cams 280H kit wake this motor up thats all I have done to my motor and it perpells at 79 malibu (3124lb w/ driver) with 4.10 gears to a whopping 13.09 at 112mph all for under 300 dollars on the motor
 
REALLY? Dang!!! Now that is some info that I needed...

Can you tell me a bit more? What is the idle like? 0-60 times? My nova is about 3700 w/ driver, but It sounds like this would really help..

do you have any idea what you HP/Torque is now? roughly? The Stock 305 that came in my nova with the 2 bbl carb was 145HP, 245lb/ft..

THANKS FOR THE INFO! that is exactly the tyhpe of info I wanted to know! Of course, now everone on this thread has me thinking about a 350 crate, and in time that may be the case, but this is sweet!
 
??? Ever consider a 305 TPI out of a Wrecked IROC or FIREBIRD/FORMULA--I have seen Engine,Trans,ECM stuff for sale all over the Internet for like $ 1,500-$2,000.-thats Used of Corse, but yet antoher option.

Again, I guess its BUDGET THING !

Good Luck - With whatever path you Choose (y)
 
dle quality is good not rough at all but has a slight rumble. Have my idle set at 750rpm and holds fine had it backed by a stock converter and was fine(changed mine to a 3500 stall for raceing though) ;D. My heads are stock all that was changed were the vavle springs which come with the cam kit. Have a best 1.98 60 foot but that was a fluke I think usually have 2.01 or 2.03 60' times. This way doesn't make the most power ( on a dynojet chassis dyno made 225hp/ 320tq at the rear tires) but is the cheapest way to go instead of crate engines or motor swaps. Like i said for around 300 dollars or less you can wake that little mouse right up. Hope this helps if you need more info just let me know and good luck on whichever path you choose.

:B: -BD- :B:
 
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