Why's everybody hatin' on the 305?

[Hubscrub]

I like almost all old chevy engines and mopar v8. I don't diesels and fords lol.I get alot of when ya gonna change it out when I talk about my 86 monte carlo ss with a 305 HO. Most reliable engine ive owned it's staying and 24 miles a gallon with the quadrajet and decent power great cruising car. All engines have there purpose.

[barry1982]

I had a few 305's. Pulled the 6 out of a 76 half ton 4 speed and dropped in a 305. With the low gears, it was a big improvement. My family car was an 84 Caprice Classic with a 305 4 BBL and a 700 R4. Great car..... hauled the family in comfort, and still pulled off 26 MPG. Bought an 87 Silverado Short box fleet
side brand new in Nov 86 with a 305 TBI and a 700R4. Again, great truck and very economical. The early 305's (and 350's in that era) used to eat cams. I can still hear that dreaded "pop, pop" coming out of the carb indicting a flat lobe on the cam. I believe it wasn't bad cams, but bad lifters. The lifter would wear down, making sharp edges. Those edges would "machine" down a cam lobe in no time. Every cam I changed had lifter edges that could cut your finger. Everyone is different. Some guys like big power, others like better mileage. There is no right answer.

[slotard]

Originally Posted by Blessed66

The old phrase of "there is no replacement for displacement" carries a lot of weight with many people, and the fallacy of it seems to go unmentioned. Obviously, there is some truth to the phrase, but it's not always a night and day difference - like people may want to believe.

I guess people don't want to accept that 4 cylinder engines can be (and have been) built that chew up V8s and spit them out.

Correct, there are certainly reasonable replacements for displacement. Good heads and boost can help a lot. However, if you already picked your platform (for example, SBC) and how civilized you want it to be (DD vs street/strip vs track only), and have a budget, displacement tends to be very helpful for getting good power. If you start with no parts, $5k parts/machine shop budget, the 350 will pretty much always walk all over the 305... but a 383 will walk on the 350, and so on. The cost of extra displacement is relatively low vs amazing heads, and extra displacement helps get you more power without losing streetability. A 450hp 350 can be a reasonable DD, a 450hp 305 won't work as well there.

Of course, for plenty of people a 200hp 305 is all they need and they're happy with it, and get better mileage. Nothing wrong with that.

[Blessed66]

Originally Posted by slotard

Of course, for plenty of people a 200hp 305 is all they need and they're happy with it, and get better mileage. Nothing wrong with that.

Exactly, this.

The highest output 305 truck engine was the 220hp, 290 lb-ft L30 Vortec engine. Now, they weren't setting the world on fire with their performance, but they were strong engines in their own right. Were I building a cruiser, there would be nothing wrong with those numbers.

Were I building a "performance" vehicle, yes, I would definately replace it with something else - not because a 305 is "junk" - but because a 5.7 or a 5.3 is a better starting point in the realm of performance. It's the "baseline" to work from because years of engine building, hot-rodding and engineering have taught us all that the 350 or 325 Gen 3+ are capable of amazing performance without major modifications.

Now, if you want to fly against the majority and build a reliable 500+hp 305, you would not find me in the line of people waiting to tell you "I told you so!" when it blows up. If you want to do it, it's your project, go for it!

Just understanding that the 305 isn't the ideal starting point of a performance build doesn't disqualify it as a great engine.