Hey thanks! It's not really a power deal. This is a first for myself to rebuild something like this but my daughter likes the truck. The motor is going to be put in by a shop. I can get a motor reman 305 for $1100 with 3 year warranty unlimited miles on parts and labor. Then everyone tells me I will regret going with the 305. So that's why I was trying to get some input. I believe I will just stay with the 305 and have it swapped out. We are going to do a lot of it ourself As far as replacing parts and such but when it comes to the motor I would rather have someone that knows what they are doing.
Thanks for the feedback
That sounds like a Jasper warranty. If so, that's probably the best. The same motor came in my Caprice when I got it. It's coming up on eight years old, and it's doing pretty well. I've only had to do emissions, ignition, and fuel repairs, but the motor and Quadrajet have been bulletproof so far. I understand going the shop route, especially if it's a good shop. I wouldn't have tackled a rebuild when the 350 in my Jimmy blew up almost two years ago, but now I wouldn't hesitate to jerk it out, tear it down, rebuild it, and put it back in. The only caveat for me has been that the more I learned, the less I approved of the work that got done. Since you're going that route, I would check the price of the 350. I know the Power Torque 350 long blocks were cheaper than the 305's a couple years ago. 350's are more plentiful and universally applicable so the supply of rebuildable cores is greater than the 305's, which were not made as long and a lot of people don't bother rebuilding them. The 305 is definitely restricted mechanically by its smaller bore and stroke and ideologically by people who hate it for its higher expense to build up and still get poorer results than a 350. Plus, I think there's a lot of bandwagon disdain for the 305. However, in a car or Class 1 van or pickup, the 305 is just fine for conservative applications. It'll get decent fuel economy, especially with a Quadrajet, and it can get out of its own way for the most part. There are performance modifications out there for it if you're ever interested, but I also understand not wanting to corrupt the work and parts you paid well for. Either way, the motor should come with 416 or 601 HO heads, which are definitely not the worst head that GM made, but there are better. They can actually be worked to do pretty damn good, but a set of Vortec 305 heads, or aftermarket aluminum or cast iron heads would be a smidge better. The cam won't be terrible like the infamous LG4 "peanut cam," but a nice, milder Comp cam (i.e. 12-300-4) would wake it up. An aluminum intake manifold is a standard tradition as far as mods go, with Edelbrock performers being the most popular, and it would be an improvement over the factory cast iron intake. That would be a 2101 if you don't care about EGR or a 3701 if you do. I'm assuming it has a Quadrajet. The exhaust is easily workable for a pre-TBI vehicle. All you need are a good set of headers and you can work it back from there, whether you want true duals or a Y pipe. I don't know what emissions are like where you live, but you could do a high flow universal catalytic converter for cheap. I have catless true duals on my Jimmy and a gutted dummy cat with factory exhaust on my Caprice. You could do an ignition tuneup and even switch to a high output coil. Finally, keeping up with your timing and your tire pressure make a difference. 6-8* degrees BTDC base timing is a good place to shoot for. If it pings, though, don't be afraid to dial it back because 305's will typically ping before a 350 will. If it still has Electronic Spark Control, then you'll have a knock sensor that'll automatically retard the timing if it pings a little while driving down the road so don't worry about that. I mean, with head work, a good, modern cam, aftermarket intake manifold, updated exhaust, a slightly upgraded Q-Jet, an inverted factory air cleaner or an aftermarket open element air cleaner, and the requisite ignition tweaks, that could be a 300hp motor for not that expensive, but in its stock form, you should expect 180hp plus or minus 10. I know this is very down the line, but I'm just saying that your ceiling for that motor is probably higher than what you'd expect, and maybe if she gets tired of it or grows to love it more and wants more out of it, you can start thinking about these upgrades either for yourself or for your daughter. Same with a 350 swap down the road, except you'll have a more powerful final product with the same exact parts.
