hey guys, i recently pulled what i was told was a 350 only to find out that its a 305.....fortunatly i talked to a few friends of mine and found a 355 with a pretty stout lower end...the previous owner had about 3k into it, the only thing is that i need to get a set of heads for it(the intake and carb i currently have), i've been doing some research and heard of people using heads off a 305HO to get more compression which would give you power in the lower RPM range, right? the heads off the 305 i have are the 416's, all i would like to put together for my camaro is a fun streetable engine, this car probably won't see much of the strip, it was recommended to me that i use the heads off the 305 but take them into a shop and have them cleaned and tested, and then buy new rocker arms, studs, and a new set of valve springs which would allow a slightly bigger cam, then i should port match my intake to the heads and when its all put back together i should have a pretty fun engine on my hands....i would like to hear some other opinions on this, any help would be great! thanks

 

oh i almost forgot, as far as a cam goes i was going to look into a comp cam 268H, and this person told me i should get a new timing chain and gears to go along with all this, why is that? thanks again!

 

Any power you would gain in compression would be completly lost. This is due to the 305's very small runner volume and valve size. Compression isn't everything. 305's also have a smaller bore than 350's. I would use the money that was planned for machine shop work and either score a set of vortecs or shop the swap meets. J-yard vortecs are another option. The Comp 268H would be right on with vortecs. A new timing set is always cheap insurance. I don't know what gears you have, so I don't know why someone told you that. Let us know what that short block has in it too.

 

Quite the contrary, who says HO heads don't flow well? Using the 305 HO (HO=high output) heads is an old-school trick to GAIN performance over stock heads. It's been tried and true. I once had a ride in a friends C3 Vette where his engine was set up just this way (by someone who knows his stuff), with the rest of the engine remaining stock. Let's just say the thing went like a raped ape. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on other stock or aftermarket heads that can flow better. But if you have a good set of HO heads, and if you are on a budget, then use them and spend your money on something else.

 

what kind of machine work should i have the shop do if i go through with using these heads?

 

Ok I stand corrected. After doing alot of reading this morning. I have found that the 416's flow about 195cfm @.500 and about 182cfm @.400, but can be worked to flow 225cfm. Vortecs flow about 230. I would have them check the decks, check for cracks,valve job,screw in studs,and set up the springs. Here is food for thought though. Add up all that machine work and parts plus the intake and rocker arms. If its more than a grand I would check into this http://www.sdparts.com/product/SD806...RPMAirGap.aspx

 

alright, i'll look into the shop work on the heads and once i figure out the total cost i'll go from there, thanks for the help guys