Hey, guys. Anyone have any ideas on getting a little more out of a stock 87 monte ss 305? It is a customers car and hes not interested in headers, would a chip gain him anything? Thanks in advance.
Thats what I initially told him but he wants to keep the original engine and wants cheap horsepower(typical chevy guy). I tried talking him into a used 350 but he's not willing to spend that much, heck, he wont even buy headers.
There's not much you can do if he's not willing to even buy headers. Flip the air cleaner lid over, I guess. Play with timing. I mean, you can get SBC G-body headers for around $100-$150 brand new.
Yeah, it's not so much the cost of the headers as the installation costs. By the time we install them drill out the broken bolts and modify the exhaust to accept the headers, he'w gonna be into it for 5 bills anyway. He's hoping a 150$ chip will give it some.
edelbrock headers fit nice and will be noticeable in hp but $$$ cam,timing bump,carb work for perf change the gas filter also ,only because most people forget this important part higher stall torque convertor,and see if it has the 3.73 gears the factory supposedly used in those cars,change to better mufflers if can
Biggest problem with those motors are the heads. They suck!! I took the 305 out of my 87 SS and dropped in a 300 horse 350 GM crate motor, added the Edlebrock headers modified the exhaust and it was like a different car.
Don't waste your money on a chip. Or at least before you do, ask the chip maker to put in writing exactly how their chip will magically improve performance. If he doesn't want to spend much, or even if he does, the first step is to tune what you got -- spend the money on fine-tuning the ignition and fuel. If he wants to see a big improvement, he's got to be willing to go inside the engine. Bolt-on horsepower is a myth (or at least highly overrated).
Cheap Horsepower??? Tell him to put it in front of a GN get a push, and it'll wake right the hell up. These cars are junk. Ask me how I know. (Look Down)
I had one of these years ago. heads, cam, exhaust and an intake woke up the 305 but the lower end couldn't handle it. He won't get much of a power increase without spending some money. Forget the chip - it's a waste of :dollar:
From everything I have read and heard about 305's it would all just be a waste for money and time. I think as others have said the lower end will fail long before you get any real power out of it and any real power you get out of it will cost a lot to do in the first place. It is just not worth it.. it would be cheaper dropping a 350 into it.
I'm not a monte lover either, and I despise 305's, but as the old saying goes..."the customer is always right", and he loves his monte. He's been on me for 2 years to "give it a little more power" and stupid me told him there might be a chip available for it. He latched right onto that. He spends gobs of money on his other cars, but for some reason doesn't want to on this one. He's convinced that its worth way more with the original engine. o No:
Super Chevy mag. had an article in it about a year ago. They took a boneyard 305, unknown miles & made some simple (bolt-on) changes to it without touching the bottom end. There are some products out there for the 305. Dyno test at the end was very encouraging for a street car. You may have to see if they have an archive.
I'd like to know if that magazine first performance-tuned the engine before making the mods. It's pretty easy to make more HP with mods if in the process you tune it. Let's face it, an awful lot of cars out there are not running as good as when they left the factory, let alone at their full potential. This is similar to the guy who thinks carburetor Q is crap, because his car used to run like crap until he removed carburetor Q and replaced it with carburetor H. The fact is he just got lucky with H and should've simply learned how to tune Q. Not that there's anything wrong with H..... I'm just saying, there's more horsepower in knowledge than in dollars. I've never driven a Monte Carlo SS, but if it's like the G-body 442s, those are actually pretty fun cars to drive. The Olds engineers did a real good job matching the cam, 2400-stall converter, 4-sp OD trans, and 3.73 rear gears. It's not 60s-era muscle, but it's no slouch either.
I would never suggest this but there are unscrupulous people out there who take out the cat and put in a test pipe....:bla:
I have a friend with an 82 Z28. It has the crappy 305. I cost him $7000 to have a builder go top to bottom just to get a little over 300hp. It had the cross fire. Many times the chips are not able to handle the cam or ported heads or the better injectors. If he serious wants some better performance it will cost big $$$$s on the 305. That thing is a pooooooch.
How about putting a tuned port injection on it. I bought a new 85 MC SS 305 with a q-jet and it was an unbelievable dog. I next bought a 87 Formula Firebird with a tuned port 305 and couldn't believe how much difference there was in the two engines.
