Believe it or not that chevy 305, or 307 could actually be useful.  I have found that when i am fixing a chevy and need a bolt and dont want to look through the magic bolt ice cream buckets, i can go to my junk 305 and get the exact bolt in seconds.  Just a thought.  If anyone else can think of another practical use I am all ears.

Chris

Demolition derby

if you need to make brackets, check clearances under the hood, ect while your 350, 383, ect is in the shop, you can drop in a 305.  

I don't know about 305's, but 283's can poop out a lot of useful horsepower if you're willing to pair it with a nice D&D Viper-to-chevy 6 speed.  

305's are garbage.  Small bore big stroke motors.  You would be better of building a 283, 302, or 307.  About the only thing they're good for is longevity.

Actually the 305 is the perfect engine to give your teenage kid.  Its not strong enough to get you in trouble.  It doesn't respond to upgrades so the kid can't make it faster.  Its strong enough to have some fun with (more so than say a 4 cylinder honda).  And when the kid finally wises up...he can change over that new intake and exhaust system that didn't do anything to the 305 over to his new big bore small block.

Either that, or the kid realizes how big of a piece the 305 is from the start and builds his own engine...any way you look at it, its a good deal.

*This senario happened to me...and I'm very thankful for that 305...I had fun with it...but knew it wasn't fast...so I returned to my real project (a 68 Cutlass) and finished it.

before i was old enough to get my liscense my best friend and i thought we were bad running around in his 87 fireturd with a 305 until we started getting beat by hondas. the fire chicken now has a 383 and the real fun has started

This is sooooooo retarded. A .060 overbore will but that block from a 3.74 up to 3.8, wow, thats a really small bore. As if small bore engines cant perform. 305's dont respond to modifications, that is the most assanine thing I have ever heard in my 30 some years. As if the 273 D Dart would not run because it had a 3.63 bore. Merry Christmas to all. Oh yea and the next biggest joke next to the 305 is the 318 Mopar. Now there is another sub 4" bore engine that, squeezing a nut, just cant figure out how to get power out of them. That stinkn sub 4" bore rule.

I guarantee yall will laugh about this but consider this, the next time you watch F1 racing, they run a maximum 98mm bore which is  3.8583" and they make around 700HP naturally aspirated. Happy new year. Smokey Yunick, the God Father of the small block chevy built an Indy engine with a 3.875 bore and he made 1000HP.

Yalls logic is so idiotic that its bliss!

Here is a line from Champ Car Gordon Kirby "just messing about with the bore size spending millions of dollars deciding what it should be really doesn't benefit anybody."

F1 cars also run multiple valves per cylinder...not to mention they scream up to 18000 rpm.  If you look at the formula for hp...you can make a ton with 18000 rpm.  Not to mention those are pure race engines developed with millions of dollars.  Indy car engines are much the same...you can't compare those to any street engine.  And multivalve/cylinder configuration allows the use of smaller bores...that really isn't readily available to most 305 builders.

My post was on personal experience...not reading magazines or listening to other people.  I have a 305 powered IROC-Z.  I have put on a Borla Adjustable cat back exhaust, high flow cat, edelbrock headers, milled the heads to give the maximum compression possible on pump gas, port matched the intake, had a 3 angle valve job performed, advanced the timing, added accel injectors, and upped the fuel pressure...all with no difference in performance.  This was after I had replaced every sensor, the IAC valve, and the EGR valve on the TPI.  The computer had also been replaced.  So the motor was in good operating condition.  It just did not respond to bolt ons.  Maybe a cam could have done something...but for there to be no response to any of that...really not worth investing more.

You can go ahead and try...but my logic was much the same as yours to begin with...

Reading over your post you did 5% to improve airflow into the engine, 10% to improve efficiency, 35% to improve fuel flow and ignition and 50% to improve exhaust. Its no wonder the engine never responded as hoped.

What is the power rating of the N/A 3800 Buick V6 with the 3.8" bore?

Since a vast majority of people who have or had a 305 dropped in their lapp for the very first time dont have experience with it, should they automatically discount word of mouth and documented research? Using that logic no one who wants to build a 305 should listen to those who failed to obtain anything positive with it.  

if you read the article carcraft did about TPI motors...advancing the timing, and increasing the fuel pressure are supposed to gain a noticeable amount of power.  They also say that the exhaust is one of the biggest plugs in the whole system.  The only thing left to do is an intake and cam before its been maxed out as far as cheap simple things to do.  And camshafts aren't that cheap considering if you go too big you have to replace the chip...and you're buying a roller cam to begin with.  Intakes arent cheap either...$750 for a base and runner set from edelbrock (worth 20HP).  SLP has the cheapest runners at something like 300 bucks.  Other companies such as Accel and TPIS have them at over $400...for just the runners...not the base.

I'm not saying it should be running 12's...but I should have noticed SOMETHING from all that.

Most N/A 3800 Buicks will make under 200 HP.  I have one.  Even supercharged and turbocharged applications made under 300.  

When people ask about building a 305...I will point them in the right direction...I find articles where people have built them up...but then tell them that mine did not respond at all to the $700 exhaust, $150 Cat, $300 headers, $300 in head work, $60 adjustable fuel pressure regulator, and all the tuning that I did to it.  If you want to BUILD one...you can get decent power out of it (decent being 400 for a hell of a lot of work and money)...if you want to bolt stuff on...don't expect anything to happen.

I cant quite follow what you are trying to say with the last part of your post...but if word of mouth and documented research are telling you the engine is not a good performance candidate...and you want a performance motor...you should probably take note.  If you want a Camaro and the only one you can afford that is in decent shape is one with a 305...get it.  Its not that you cant have fun with it...it just doesn't respond to upgrades.  If you really want to prove me wrong...you are more than welcome to buy me a base and runner set for my 305.  I'll try it out for ya

Like I said...this is my personal experience.  I set out to prove everyone wrong...that a 305 could easily hang with the 350.  I learned the hard way that the 305 really is the dog everyone says it is.

Merry Christmas

"Like I said...this is my personal experience. I set out to prove everyone wrong...that a 305 could easily hang with the 350. I learned the hard way that the 305 really is the dog everyone says it is."

If you invested money in a 305, then you certainly learned the "hard way."  The "easy way" is to simply understand the inherent disadvantage a 305 has with its bore/stroke combination compared to other sbc designs.  There's really no mystery to this, rather just facts.

Merry Christmas, all.

"This is sooooooo retarded. A .060 overbore will but that block from a 3.74 up to 3.8, wow, thats a really small bore. As if small bore engines cant perform. 305's dont respond to modifications, that is the most assanine [sic] thing I have ever heard in my 30 some years."

If you've built multiple small-block configurations, you'd then know first-hand that 305s do not respond to modifications the same as a 302, 327, 350, 383 or 400 does.  There's nothing asinine going on here.  305s are inferior.  Period.  End of story.

Merry Christmas, all.

You forgot "Happy Hanukkah".  

i recently found a 305 z28 (3rd gen 86-7?)for $ 2800.  i figure  could i drive it while i build a 383 and  switch the tpi for a carb over the same  weekend  i throw in the 383 or am i over simplifying the swap?  i really cant imagine it being that hard or is it? my best friend has a formula firebird set up the same way but he used his check book to do the work so he really doesnt know what it entails either   thanks alot guys