Allright, before you all begin on reminding me of how the 305 is only excellent at being a paper weight, let me say that this is just an IDEA. I'm only running through this with you guys to see if its possible.

OK, to begin with some background history: although I hate to quote form another magazine, PHR published some "Budget Power" articles where they had three buildups: a 496 BB, a 418 SBF, and a 305 that made 393hp for $2500.

Since I don't really feel like laying down 6 grand on a BB and I'm definitely not a major Ford fan, the 305 interested me alot. It would probably go into an S10 pickup or Blazer depending on which I decide to tear into.

The 305 in the article is a 10.3 comp stock bore/stroke Engine Master's motor. It's got a 229/238 @ .050 COMP cam, GM Fast Burn # 12464298 heads (265 peak flow) GM Vortec Eliminator intake, and an 800cfm Quadrajet. He made 393hp with the only work being a little cleaning up of the heads that pushed em to 265 from 240 flow. All this for $2500.

Now, for my plan: first, I have to point out that this is going to be used in one of the s10's probably, unless I score some late-70's elky to mess around with  

second, I've 'built' both that Engine Masters' and my motor in Desktop Dyno 2000, and both of them made just under 400hp. Not bad for a computer hah.

Anyways, here's the basic parts list:
 305--stock crank and rods, hypereutectic pistons for 9.5:1 compression
 Patriot Freedom 188 Aluminum heads--66cc chamber, 263 peak flow but @ .600 lift... makes 229 @ .500
 750cfm carb...probably a StreetHP I can get cheap from a friend..
 Dual plane intake....haven't really decided which to pick, and DD2000 only lets you choose the KIND of intake....
 COMP XR294 cam, 242/248 @ .050, .540/.562 lift w/ the rockers (LSA is 110 I believe)
 Headers are 1 3/4 inchers dumping into 2.5inch exhaust with free-flow mufflers or just glasspacks. Having the exhaust pass inspection is no biggie, we have lots of friends in local garages.

 So this combo supposedly puts our 390+hp @ 6000, and 381 tq @ 4500. It makes 300+ torque from 2k to 6k, so I'm not too too worried about it being uncontrollable. This is a nights/weekend car that'l be put away in the winter, so being a bit hard to start from a larger cam isn't a problem either (although I've heard that that cam shouldn't be too bad anyways).

I'm shooting for $2500 total cost to build, a bunch of my stuff I can pick up used or on the cheap from leftovers that friends have and whatnot.

So, opinions: who thinks it'l make a bit under 400 with this setup?

Oh, by the way, it has
1)lower compression
2)dual plane
3)through the mufflers (although unbolting is not big deal :-D
4)no head work...I'm on a high-school budget and don't have much experience with head prep on my own, and there's no good shops around that have the equipment.  

Oh, and the reason I'm not just getting a 350 is because after this 305 is done, I'm going to begin putting together a 383 making at least 500 on motor, with a 150 shot in the wings. But that's gonna take time and I need a motor for this pickup now (I might put the 383 in an elky anyways).  

Good Luck and let us know how it turns out (with an Actual dyno number), as lots of people quote just under 400Hp as an achievable number because the Magazine/engine master's people did it, but I have never heard anyone else pull it off.  Should idle pretty rough, hope you have a loose enough converter picked out or go with a stick shift.  

watch out on your head selection 305's cand run huge valves cause they hit the block the bore isnt big enough  

The real question is whether or not you can actually achieve good cylinder head flow.  If you can, you'll make good power.  But the small bore and gen I architecture makes that difficult...

Good luck  

Thanks guys,
yeah, I hadn't thought about the high lift hitting the tops.....would it be that expensive to get the pistons worked on to accommodate the valves sticking out?
And I might try my luck at some hand porting.....I had forgotten ealrier but I have a friend who's major cheap and reuses alot of factory stuff, just working it over. He might help me do it.
For the tranny, I was thinking of definitely going with a stick....maybe a four or five-speed...even though the Blazer has an auto its only got 38k miles, and for a 2002 I really don't want to tear into it. I might end up putting it in a pickup :-D

Any other concerns that could arise? Should I just bite the bullet and pump up the compression a bit more to make it idle 'better'? I hate the thought of having to run 91 all the time, but if it calls for it......

By the way, could this even be done if I used 87 oct? the core is either going to be a first gen from an old Malibu or an '88 block from a beaten Blazer. Let me know, thanks again.