Hi guys my names Matt, New Member first post.

I have an 85 ss project car that i need advice on. I removed all the emissions from it, updated intake, carb, distributor, heads & exhaust. Wont have time to get to the torque converter, trans or rear end for awhile (wife will kill me if i spent that money right now) but want to replace the cam. I know the heads are a little restrictive but i have seen some good power come from a 305 before. Ill probably grind the heads (gasket match) them to help some. Im not sure what cam kit to order to be able to get some power & and a good sound out the exhaust, but not loose my brakes from loss of vacuum in the process. Any sugestions would be appreciated.

 

It all depends on every thing you have done to it an what you plan on doing to it.
There's a few decent generic cams that people like to run.A lot will depend on your heads an what your compression is with them

 

Yeah I guess I didn't give all the details. Looking to make it a street
Car, not everyday driver but more street Than strip. Compression will be stock unless I need to deck the heads and heads will be stock, but port n polished.

 

The stock 305 heads the junk for the most part they don't flow much even after porting that will limit the cam size some what.The 305 is a bit of a boat anchor it might be cheaper to pick up a 350

 

Gotta say, hopping up a 305 is kinda like beating a dead horse. Would be waaaay better off looking for a 350. If anything a cam is useless without gears and stall converter.

 

CarCraft has built a few 305s over the years. The full arcticles are available on their site

 

If your looking to just throw a cam in for alittle more umph then Iwould suggest maybe a 268 to 270h Comp Cam. Both wil give u alittle more umph for your engine but as stated I would maybe look more towards building you a nice 350 or so for it. While 305's can be made into good performers, when you look at what your gonna get as far as bang for buck I would just upgrade engine size. I pulled the 305 out ofmine and went down to a local salvage yard and pulled a 350 out of a suburban. Complete top to bottom i got the entire engine fore around $350. Then just tore it down and sent it to the engine shop for cleaning and all. Got the engine back and ordered the rebuild kit from Summit Racing. Threw in a new Comp Cam and lifter set with new Comp Cams push rods. All new bearings and gaskets, basically made the engine new again. With assembling it myself i saved a ton of labor cost. All total I have less than $2000 in it and it will be a nice little street engine that will still be fun at the track. Just saying lol...

 

A cleaned up junk yard 350 will out perform most mild 305's sadly.There's something about the 305 that just kinda sux the old 283's an 307's beefed up more than the 305 would.I've seen some people build the 305 an it kinda wasn't impressive at all.Had a friend build the one in his 86 camaro only got low 13's out of it.He slapped a junk yard 350 with a cam in it after popping the 305 an was hitting a low 13 for a 1/4 the cost of building the 305.Of course a nice LSX will really scream in there

 

The 305 was designed as a smog motor. That is why they are such a dog (no offense intended). Low compression and poor flowing heads topped off with a smog pump and EGR that heats and dilutes the intake charge and you have a low performance engine that gets relatively decent mileage. As others have stated, a 350 would be a much better choice. If you really want to glue their eyeballs to the back window consider a 383 stroker...and hang on!