What Would Be The Best Camshaft To Use On My 305
Posted in Fuel Systems & Components | Asked on Mar 15, 2011
Below is the question about What Would Be The Best Camshaft To Use On My 305, I’m currently not sure on what camshaft I should use for my 305 engine that is in my 1984 Chevy Camaro Z28. I currently have a some mods on the engine ( edelbrock performer Air gap intake, Edelbrock 650 Cfm carburetor, Flow-tech shortly headers) I have a stock torque converter on a 700R4 but it will be rebuilt and more in likely I’m replacing the converter too. I also have a set of 3.73 gears in the rear. I’m looking for a camshaft that will give me good throttle response and good top end power. ( I know that I’m going out on the limb with this 305. but I believe its a good engine and I know with the proper combo it can prove people that a 305 isn’t junk.) So I hope some one will help me out and if you have any other ideas or tricks for me feel free to let me know. Thank you
Also I forgot to mention that I’m also planning to match port my heads with my intake and get the heads ported and polished. along with the camshaft I was wondering of what valve train to use too.and probably run a MSD ignition set up on it too.
was also thinking of replacing the rockers with 1.52 ratio roller rockers and maybe roller lifters if possible
There are 4 Answers for "What Would Be The Best Camshaft To Use On My 305"
If your using stock heads i would not go bigger than a 480 /360. if you are going to get the heads done they can tell you how big you can go with what you have. good luck and have fun:)
If you get in touch with the techs at the builder of your choice.let em know what youve done,and your future plans are,they can get you a real good cam.you may want to go with 1 cam for now,and then get a second later on.also look into beefing up your valve springs.this can be done fairly cheap and with the head in place.been there but with a ford 302
First, decide if your going witha flat tappet cam or roller. Then, call a Tech line. The cam grinders don’t want you running poorly with their stuff. It gives thema bad name. They make hundreds of recommendations a week, and have likely seen a combination like yours
Is that the LG4 305 or the L69 305 HO engine?
Big diff in the heads and compression.
If the 8.6:1 compression LG4 then you have to stay small with the cam, Like 202/214@.050″ MAX as a bigger cam will bleed off your cyl pressure too much and make a dog out of it
If it’s the L69 9.5:1 compression 305 HO you can go with a 214/224@.050″ cam, .443/.465″ lift
A set of howards #98214 valve springs
A roller cam and lifters is really a waste on the 305. Your block is not a factory roller cam block, so you would need the retro fit roller lifters and that setup aint cheap.
A flat tappet cam and lifters is $90 to 150
All the stuff to swap yours to a roller cam would run you around $650-800
Not worth it for the 10 HP gain
You can use roller rockers though, but don’t cheap out. There is little to no gain from stamp steel roller tip rockers.
If you want to see the 5-10 HP gain from roller rockers, you have to go to the full rollers that have the needle bearing roller fulcrums.
Again don’t cheap out. Been many counts of broken proform, summit, pro comp, etc roller rockers, and when these breaks, it will send tiny metal needle bearings through out your engine.
The only roller rockers I run are
Howards
Scorpion
Hardland sharp
Crane gold race
Comp cams gold
Comp cams pro mag
Comp cams hi tech stainless
You will want a 2600-2800 rpm stall torque converter with the 214/224* cam.
Don’t waste your money on the MSD stuff at your level. You will see no gains. Yes the CD ign. boxes from MSD, Mallory, etc work but theres no gain or need in them untill you get such a wild combo the engine loads up when idling, compression/cyl pressure blows out the flame front, etc.
I made 505 HP using a modded stock HEI dizzy. I did have a 50K volt coil in it, new pickup, HEI recurve kit set to have timing fully in by 3K rpm, brass term cap and MSD 8.5mm plug wires. That engine was shifted at 6400 rpm
I’m just now using a CD ign. setup. 600 HP, 7000-7200 rpm shift points, 249/252@.050″ cam, .570/.579″ lift, etc etc.
I’m running a MSD pro billet dizzy, Mallory hyfire digital box, Mallory Ecore coil, MSD 8.5mm wires.
Truthfully the only reasons I went with that setup is cause on the dyno my HEI started miss firing at 6700 rpm before I could reach my new engine’s peak HP which ended up being 7,000 rpm
And cause I’m planning on running a 300 HP shot of nitrous soon and needed the nitrous timing retard, and RPM window switchs