Just bought a nice looking '86 Monte Carlo LS, and i want a bigger cam to give it that mean muscle car sound. What camshaft would you guys recommend for a stock 305 with a computer and what not? Part #'s would be greatly appreciated.
By the way I am new to this forum my names Brian.

 

First off, welcome! Second, you don't want to go too wild with the cam in that 305. If its original make sure you do the valve springs, locks, lifters, and pushrods while your in there. Even stock replacements would be fine. I wouldn't do anything radical, you will loose vacuum and run into alot of problems with vacuum accessories, like brakes, not working properly. Also if you get a cam with alot of lift, duration, and overlap, your stock heads are gonna be a huge restriction with their flow capabilities. Get on JEGS or summit, find a cam with good idle and driver characteristics that has a slight lope at idle. It usually will tell you in the description. Something from comp or lunati would be good.

 

Hello and Welcome to the forum....

 

i wouldnt bother doing a cam swap at all. just save up to switch to a larger small block. your going to pull apart the front of the motor and then have to switch valve springs. the reward wont be worth the effort. as mentioned above the heads on the 305 are going to hold the car back big time. your cam selection should match your heads. at the point that you are going to do a cam you might as well do the timing chain and see if you can find a cheap set of world torquer heads, ditch the computer garbage too. the better move would be find a 327 and up small block and start building that when done just swap the two.

 

Good points. Also if you get a larger cam, you would want to try and get an intake with around the same rpm range and a good set of headers. You wouldn't want too big of a cam because of the restrictive heads, loss of vacuum, etc. You want to match power building components the best you can because if not, it just wont be 'right'. I hate to say it, but to get the lopey idle out of your 305 you'd probably have to get a cam that would diminish street drivability. Remember, displacement has a calming effect on camshafts. A crazy, radical cam on a 327 isn't going to be so radical on a 383. The 305 was meant to give v6 power and fuel economy with the sound of a v8. If it runs good, I'm going to go with monteman on this one. I say build a 327 or bigger then when you're done swap engines out. Then you can sell your 305 to offset the cost a little bit. (This is what I did.)

 

^^ This ^^

The 305/307 were designed for fuel economy, not performance. Trying to squeeze HP out of them is like squeezing water from a rock. You'll be better off by far getting a 350 or a 383 stroker.

 

Sorry for taking awhile to answer back.. You guys are right.. I knew that the 305 wasn't much for performance but was just wanting to see what you guys thought. I had already planned on swapping a 350 into it in a couple years. But any ways, another question.. If I wanted to replace the stock air cleaner with like an open edelbrock one what would I do with the hoses that are connected to the snorkel of the stock air cleaner, I'm guessing there for vacuum.

 

You can buy a set of vacuum caps from your local parts store and just plug all the ports the vacuum lines connected to the breather come from. Good luck on your project! Keep us posted!

 

If you want a cheap,easy , NOTICABLE difference in performance. I can burn you a custom chip. I can re-work spark tables for max torque, adjust torque converter lockup delay, fueling,etc. Let me know if your interested.

 

I had a xe268 in a 305 before and I liked it.but if you want to keep the ecu.
You will have to stay on the milder side.I installed a comp 4x4 (I think)256 in my truck when it was still TBI and it ran well the 4x4 cams makes great torque