Would it be even remotely feasible? Stock compression on these bad boys is an anemic 8.4:1.

Would it be possible to put a blower/turbo on the motor without much more than the necessary bolt on parts and a good blueprinting on the bottom end parts?
maybe a set of heads?

I'm just wondering if this might be a better idea bang for buck wise than building a motor from the ground up with a low compression ratio.

Weigh in with "you're crazy" - I want to hear your opinions http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/wink.gif

If it fits a 350, it'll fit the 305......

Worth it ? Not unless you're stuck with that motor in the vehicle......

Waste of money..... http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/smile.gif Yup....lol.

Stock smogger motors have very conservative compression and a very mild cam. That's normally all wrong for performance BUT it happens to make them an excellent candidate for a little roots blower like I have on my Malibu. For about $1500 you can be pushing about 6 PSI into that little wheezer and making about 80 more HP. That's about the cheapest way to put forced induction on any small block, even if you count in the cost of a good sized cowl induction hood to fit it under (it definitely won't fit under a stock 2nd gen hood).

The kit you would be looking at is the Weiand 142 "long nose" blower. Holley now ownss Weiand. Holley also sells their own very similar blower under their own name called the Holley 144. It's very similar, is even slightly LOWER overall height than the 142 (still won't fit under a stock 2nd gen hood) but I have never used it myself.

The Weiand kit comes complete for about $1500 from Summit. With a decent 4bbl on top of the blower (the original QJet in good working order and with some fatter secondary metering rods, for instance) and a good flowing exhaust you can get some serious giggle factor out of one of these little blowers.

I dropped this same blower onto some very similar early 80s 3rd gen Camaros (2 of them, actually) with stock 8.5:1 305 engines and it never failed to impress. The torque increases are huge and that's what really gets the car moving when you first nail it.

The blower is reusable on any small block should you decide to "upgrade" later. I have mine on a mild little 383 and it's putting 390HP to the rear tires, just to let you know how far you can go with one of these little things.

Thanks guys.. I have an eddy 4 bbl 1406 right now, works great so I have that covered, at least. and stock on the 305 in 79 was a 2bbl (crappy dualjet)

Sounds like a cart-load of fun! Is there anything you'd reccomend engine wise to prep for a blower? Do I need to be particularly careful with say.. pressure leak down, compression tests, so on and so forth? Maybe you have some reading material lying around for me so I don't just pester you with questions? http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/wink.gif


Any particular reason you'd say it would be a better with a 350? even the 350 was only making 150-160 hp in '79.

Check out an article I wrote about it over on Thirdgen.org. It's in the tech articles section with my name on it (Damon).

There's not much you need to do to prep for it. You engine is in whatever condition it's in. If it's hurting, the blower will kill it quick and you'll get to build the engine you really want after that (also with the blower on top!).

I would make sure the ignition system is up to par- fresh cap, rotor, plugs (maybe a heat range or two colder), wires and a new coil if you're not sure how old yours is (just a stock replacement). Honestly, you don't need an ignition amplifier box on this motor- it's not going to rev that high and you're not going to be pushing too much boost at it anyway. Keep the timing conservative- like STOCK conservative at least for starters.

Some stuff I'd do if it was me, but isn't strictly necessary to get it up and running: I would change the carb's step-up spring to one that opens at 7", as opposed to the 5" (orange) spring that comes stock. I'd also install an adjustable vacuum advance can that limits maximum vacuum advance to about ~12* and won't let ANY vacuum advance kick in until about 5-6" of vacuum. And figure you'll be putting premium in the tank as soon as the blower goes on.

Read the rest of the article and you'll have everything you need for a successful install. If you get stuck, shoot me an email and I'll try to help out.

Found the thread linking to the article but the link was dead. Got any idea what exactly I'm looking for?

[edit] is this it?

http://www.holley.com/data/TechService/Technical/Supercharger%20Tech%20Info.pdf

[This message has been edited by Skaal-tel 79 (edited July 21, 2005).]

aaah very informative indeed. So.. essentially it IS a good idea to slap a blower onto a basic motor for me. 2-300 hp is exactly what I'm aiming for, at least with this motor.. since it's a daily driver and gets plenty of mileage.. a full out drag motor makes no sense.

Cool. now to save up 3 grand beaver bucks and away I go.

You can either do it that way, or go stealth and get a centrifugal sc that bolts on the front of the engine like an accessory. Then you won't need to buy a $400 hood http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/wink.gif Only thing about the centrifugal superchargers is they build boost slower, it's not instant like a roots blower.

$1500 blower package on a $50 motor,,, something about this hurts my head!!!! http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/wink.gif

We did some before and after dyno testing on a 305 with a belt-driven supercharger, and it boosted the power by about 50%. Unfortunately, 50% of 150 rwhp isn't a lot, so after spending $3500+ on a blower he has about 225 rwhp, a figure easily exceeded by a crate 350.

It's a $1500 blower THAT CAN BE REUSED on top of another (more powerful) engine later.

Here's the basic idea: Think of the current smog engine as the LEARNING engine. It takes some time to learn how to work with a roots blower if you've never done it before. I'm on my 3rd itteration with the little 142 and I finally feel like I've got my arms wrapped around it pretty good. Skaal will go through the same learning process. Best to learn on a junk motor. Mistakes on a blower motor usually result in "ka-bang!," game over.

Fwiw, Holley aquired B&M's blower line first and now owns Weiands blower line too.

And except for being pricey, I figure the 250 and 256 Holley Procharger mini-blowers would be dandy on a mild to medium BB!!

Probably make darn near a 1000hp!!!

I don't know if they still sell both or not??

pdq67

They do. They still seem to offer both complete product lines- Holley and Weiand blowers, but they're all listed as Weiand-branded products now. They didn't seem to consolidate it down to a single product line (yet). Check it out here:

http://www.holley.com/categories.asp?division=Weiand#11



[This message has been edited by Damon (edited July 27, 2005).]

My bud put 2 Turbos on a 305 in a 2nd gen. Got them from the scrap yard off of old TBirds and Cougars. He grew a beard B4 the 60 ft but needed a parachute at the traps. Said the rearend wanted to pass the front end almost all the way down. Thought it was a 400 but later he said noooo it was a 305.....his rear tires had long score marks like never b4. http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Get the new Car Craft and read about the mid 8 second 1st gen Camaro running 2 turbos and a carb http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/wink.gif VERY interesting reading. Said he got the turbos new for $250 each cause they are industrial turbos that don't spin up very quick, but it does build boost!

Kind of off base here, but there used to be a guy that showed up at the track all the time in a 305 Thirdgen with a Paxton huffer. Eliminate the hairdrier & it was an extreme low buck ride. Anyway, he clicked off high 11's with ease, all day long. I cant remember what tires he ran, but I THINK it was plain old street tires. It was a really odd combo, just one of those "its so simple" deals. Last time I saw him he was building a 383 to slap the Paxton on.

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11.70/118mph, thats all..