Is the 305 worth the effort?

[f6john]

My 305 was always a healthy motor. Healthy enough that it would actually piss me off when people would trash talk the motor and call it stupid things such as a "boat anchor".

Do the usual tune up stuff and see if that improves anything. The Titan I test drove seemed like it had less power than my 305, so I might be the spoiled one. If the tune up and carb/TB clean doesn't help, then I would consider swapping in a 350. These are good motors, but, not something I would really consider rebuilding.

Titan's are sweet when they are running right. I went through several issues with mine where a 4cyl S-10 would have smoked me. But my Titan is a crew cab 4x4 and when you put it beside the Silverado it makes the C-10 look like a midsize truck. The Titan is one heavy beast but the 5.6 is a powerhouse. What has really surprised me the most is how much I'm enjoying the 25 year old Chevy.

 

[Irishman999]

Im enjoying my 305 so far. The emissions system is not as complicated as it looks once you start working on it. I really like the gas mileage and I feel like the motor has plenty of power for my needs. I had mine loaded down last summer and pulled the load over 1k miles with no problems, Make sure your hazard lights work if you plan on towing.

 

[Jaymez]

Titan's are sweet when they are running right. I went through several issues with mine where a 4cyl S-10 would have smoked me. But my Titan is a crew cab 4x4 and when you put it beside the Silverado it makes the C-10 look like a midsize truck. The Titan is one heavy beast but the 5.6 is a powerhouse. What has really surprised me the most is how much I'm enjoying the 25 year old Chevy.

Before I bought my current GMC, I test drove a Titan and I felt like the damn thing could not get out of its own way. Fully loaded, the truck didn't feel anywhere near as nice as the Work Truck Silverado I was trading in.

I mentioned to the sales guy that I didn't think it had the power to tow my S10 to the track so the genius had me drive a Frontier. Of course, he was also the guy who, when asked what the truck we were driving had for gears in the back, he looked at me and honestly said, "Oh, our trucks only have one reverse gear.." ::blink::

At least the truck is working out for you.

 

[Swims350]

good point on the emissions stuff, definately worth cleaning things up by removing it, IF you can do so, if you don't have to pass a sniffer test, go for it and throw on some long tube headers.

 

[HotRodPC]

Welcome to GMSB F6. I think you got some good advice here. I'm with Jaym on this one. Go ahead and tune your 305 and patch it up to be a runner. But true, I would not consider rebuilding it. At that time when its time to rebuild, you are going to be about equal to find you a good 350 rebuildable core for $50-$100. The rebuild the 350 and install in place of the 305. I assume it cuz 350's are more common, but it you look up parts to rebuild a 350 and 305, you'll see the parts are cheaper for the 350. Pretty much just talking pistons since the bearings, gaskets and such are the same. So the cost difference in the pistons will help towards the purchase of your core. About the most I'd do with a 305 is rering it and a valve job, IF ITS IN TOLERANCE SPECS, and squeeze another 50-60K miles out of it, but even realistically, 350's are out there to be had for cheap these days.

 

[Old77]

Cost to rebuild a 305 is exactly the reason I went the route I did with the 350 crate motor. After itemizing everything we'd need to do a rebuild on my original 305 it was essentially going to cost exactly the same as we paid for the crate motor. That's pretty crazy!! So I'm sure MrGM is right that the most cost effective way to go would be to find a cheap rebuildable 350 because parts are cheaper ans easily had

 

[Irishman999]

I've been seeing 350 long block crate motors on craigslist for 1k alot here in reno. They are not the GM Goodwrench motors but are they normally around 4 k?

 

[HotRodPC]

You can get those Heche En Mexico Goodwrench motors for much less than $4K. They are a fair deal IMO. When I say fair deal, I mean you are getting what you pay for. They aren't so bad really. I think the biggest thing that gives them the bad wrap is the fact they are made in Mexico. Also I think many are afraid the nickel content in the block is low making the block weak. They are 4 bolt mains, they also have a Nodular Iron crank instead of just a cast crank, which is inbetween the strength of standard cast and forged, so the crank isn't so bad. Also they use Powder Metal Con Rods which are stronger than standard OEM cast con rods. So for the money, I think they are a decent deal for what you get. Jasper crate motors you will spend the $4K although it is a pure quality build and an awesome warranty. I don't buy crate motors though. I sometimes spend more money building it myself, than I would on a crate. But if I build it, I feel confident I can give it hell and know its staying together. I check, double check, and triple check every ring, and bearing after having the rotating assembly balanced. I also know what's in it and what abuse I can throw at it. With a crate, you are never certain.

 

[GreaseDog]

my GM Vortec 350 was like $2300 to my door. i love it.

that said, you need to do a couple things here before pulling the trigger on a motor swap. the absolute first would be a leakdown test. it will tell you what is really up in the engine, where a compression test will only tell you if you have low peak compression. the leakdown test will tell you exactly how much compression you're losing, and where you're losing it.

if everything checks out there, go for a full tuneup, and if you can get away with it, de-smog the engine. that 82-86 emissions stuff is notorious for causing all kinds of drivability problems. to properly de-smog it, you're going to need an HEI distributor with vacuum advance, and a QJet carb without a dual capacity accelerator pump. basically, treat it like its a 79 or older truck.

that said, don't assume that because its got 60K on the clock its good. i have a 103k 350 sitting in my 87 right now, and an 86 305 with 113K on the clock. the 86 was a well maintained truck, used by an old man here in town to pull his boat for almost 20 years. i got the maintnance records with the truck, and it was so clean that when i pulled the bedliner out of the bed the only damage was where the liner rubbed on the ribs in the bed floor... and written on the side of the bedliner were his last name, 11/XX/85, and the name of a local place who installed bedliners... the bedliner had apparently been there since day 1. the 87 on the other hand, was driven daily by a friend's grandfather, who bought the truck brand new in late 86. he used it to drive to his lumberyard from home. 2 miles one way, and shut down. that stupid thing smokes so bad it almost burns your eyes at idle. works great for what i use it for, its a loose but good running engine, which means it won't change how its running when it gets hot. both of them are used as derby truck engines. only one of them would i even consider putting in a street driven truck, and that's the higher milage 305.